The Allahabad High Court held that a suspended principal of a college cannot take part in any selection or recruitment process and in the absence of any challenge to the appointment of the Officiating Principal, the appointments made in his presence in the selection committee cannot be deemed to be invalid.
Brief Facts:
An advertisement was issued by the then Officiating Principal of the appellant-institution for appointments on 3 posts of Lab Assistant, one of which was reserved for Scheduled Castes candidate: 1 post of Routine Clerk and 3 posts of Class-IV employees. The Officiating Principal was also a part of the selection committee. Certain appointments were made in 2004 and the selected candidates started working after their appointments were approved by the Regional Higher Education Officer. Later, doubts were raised about the appointments made on the grounds that the Officiating Principal was not the regular Principal and had no right to take part in recruitment proceedings. In 2009, the Director, of Higher Education directed cancellation of such appointments made in the presence of the Officiating Principal in the selection committee. In 2010, the then Principal passed orders suspending the payment of salary of the concerned employees and subsequently, their appointments were cancelled by the Authorized Controller. The cancellation of appointments was challenged before the High Court in its writ jurisdiction. The Single Judge directed reinstatement of the employees with continuity in service on grounds that there was no proper inquiry, and the employees were not granted any opportunity of hearing.
Observations of the court:
The court noted that the main issue before it was whether a valid person had participated in the selection proceedings as Principal or not.
It was observed by the court that after multiple rounds of litigation, the Court had refused to interfere with the suspension of the regular Principal of the institution. Since the order refusing to interfere with the suspension had attained finality, the Court held that the regular Principal could not have participated in any selection process. The Court held that the suspended principal cannot be a part of any selection or appointment process.
It was further held that in the absence of a regular Principal, the Officiating Principal was to discharge the duties of the Principal. Accordingly, the participation by the Officiating Principal in the selection proceedings could not be said to be invalid in the absence of any challenge to his appointment as Officiating Principal and it was stated that the educational authorities as well as the Authorized Controller clearly fell in error in doubting the correctness of the recruitment proceeding culminating in appointment of Class-III employees, who were duly approved by the Regional Higher Education Officer.
It was stated that no disciplinary enquiry was otherwise held. The services of Class-III employees, who were duly appointed and approved by the educational authorities, could not have been set aside, merely on a misconceived apprehension that the selection committee was incompetent. We, therefore, fully endorse the view taken by the learned Single Judge that the cancellation of the appointment of Class-III employees was impermissible.
The decision of the Court:
The court dismissed the appeals.
Case Title: C/M Sri Durga Ji (P.G) College And Anr. vs Ambrish Kumar Gond and Ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi
Case No.: SPECIAL APPEAL DEFECTIVE No. - 791 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Ravindra Nath Yadav, Akhilesh Kumar Yadav
Advocate for the Respondent: C.S.C., Alok Mishra
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