HC paves way for regular appointment of Agri Director

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 27

Nearly 15 years after an order prevented the Punjab Government from appointing Director, Agriculture, on a regular basis, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed as “infructuous” the petition on which the direction came.

The order was passed on May 2, 2002, and the petition was “admitted and ordered to be heard within six months” on May 11, 2004. The dismissal of the petition now has paved way for the appointment of Director, Agriculture, on a regular basis.

The order by Justice Jaswant Singh came after Sutantar Kumar Airi filed applications for placing on record the Punjab Agriculture (Group-A) Service Rules, 2013, his impleadment as party respondent and also for disposing of the petition itself as infructuous.

The Bench was told that the previous 1974 Rules stood repealed with the promulgation of the 2013 Rules; and ambiguity, if any, had been specifically removed.

Justice Jaswant Singh asserted in view of the changed circumstances, it was agreed that the present writ petition itself had become infructuous. In view of the agreed stand, the application for disposing of the main petition too was allowed. “It is ordered that the present writ petition is infructuous.” The petition was filed by Agriculture Technocrats Action Committee and other petitioners against the state and other respondents in 2001. The issue cropped up again during the hearing of an appeal filed by Airi after his petition against “look after” charge of Director, Agriculture, to Jasbir Singh Bains was dismissed.