File Photo: Allahabad High Court
In an embarrassment to the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court today declared as illegal the appointment of retired IAS officer Lal Bihari Pandey as the chairman of the UP Higher Education Services Commission.
The order came barely a fortnight after the court had, on September 7, quashed the appointment of three members of the Commission holding that "transparency" and "objective criteria" were not adopted in their selection.
In today's order, a division bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Verma ruled that Mr Pandey's appointment as chairman of the Commission was in violation of rules since he was not eligible for the post.
The court noted that as per the rules, only an officer who has retired from a post not lower than that of a Secretary could be appointed as Chairman of the Commission while Pandey was a district magistrate at the time of his superannuation.
Mr Pandey was appointed to the post on July 20.
The court also observed that "no procedure was followed in the appointment of the Chairman" and directed the state government to remove Pandey from the post forthwith and "reconstitute the committee of members of the Commission and appoint the Chairman and members in accordance with Article 14 of the Constitution (equality before law)".