HC quashes appointment of UPSESSB chairman

The Allahabad high court on Monday declared the appointment of the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Service Selection Board (SESSB) chairman Sanil Kumar as ‘illegal’ and directed the state government to remove him from the post.

A division bench comprising justice Arun Tandon and justice Ashwini Kumar Mishra passed this order while hearing a writ petition filed by one Jitendra Kumar Goel. The petitioner alleged that the appointment was not done in the proper manner.

The court continued the restraint on three other members of the commission — Anita Yadav, Asha Lata Singh and Lalit Kumar — from performing their duties till the next date of hearing.

They were asked to file an affidavit with regard to their appointments.

The court also directed the principal secretary of the department concerned to file a personal affidavit, explaining the appointment procedure and non- numbering of pages of the record related to the appointments.

The bench observed that Sanil Kumar had no qualification to be eligible for being appointed to the post of UPSESSB chairman.

T he cour t said t hat no advertisement was issued for the chairman’s appointment. Further, the fact that he was a senior lecturer and working as officiating principal was suppressed though the eligibility norms for the post required one to be the principal of a college and not just a lecturer.

Earlier, the court had summoned records related to the appointment of Kumar.

After examining the records, it came to the conclusion that appointment to such an impor- tant post must be transparent and according to the procedure laid down, but the records were silent in this regard.

“This lack of transparency and absence of procedure of appointment is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India,” the court observed.

The court has fixed October 8 as the next date of hearing.