After the resignation of cabinet minister Rana Gurjit Singh over graft charges, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday suffered another setback with the Punjab and Haryana High Court setting aside the appointment of his chief principal secretary Suresh Kumar.

The bench headed by Justice Rajan Gupta ruled that Kumar, a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was holding the post in violation of Article 166 (3) of the Constitution and thus his appointment was ‘null and void’.

Kumar was earlier principal secretary to Amarinder Singh during his previous tenure as Punjab CM in 2002-2007.

A Mohali-based lawyer had moved the high court to challenge Kumar’s appointment, made after the Congress government took over in March 2017.

The development is seen as a major blow to the CM as Suresh Kumar was one of his loyalists playing a vital role in running the state government.

Punjab Congress sources said Kumar may now be given an advisory role.

They added that Kumar may not like to continue with the state government as he had already tendered his resignation after his appointment was challenged in high court in August last year.

After that Kumar stopped going to his office or take part in official meetings. It is learnt that he had written to the CM that he would not continue on the post during the pendency of the case.

In the petition, it was contended that there was no provision in the rules for bestowing the rank of a cabinet secretary on a retired officer.

A postgraduate in commerce from Delhi University, Kumar is was 1983 batch IAS officer. He started his career as a sub-divisional magistrate in Talwandi Sabo and retired as Additional Chief Secretary (Development) in April 2016. Kumar served the Punjab government and remained on deputation to the Centre in different capacities.

Rana Gurjit Singh who submitted his resignation from the state cabinet on 4 January is a billionaire industrialist who is also considered close to CM.

Rana’s name had cropped up in alleged proxy bidding in mutli-crore sand-mine auctions.

However, the CM had stated that a decision on Rana’s resignation will be taken after his meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.