Norms of transparency, fair play must be adhered: HC

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

Certain norms of transparency and fair play must be adhered while making recruitment to posts in state instrumentalities and the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) “cannot be permitted to fight shy of it”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled before setting at naught the process of recruiting Deputy Director General (Solar Photovoltaic).

The petitioner in the case had alleged that there was interference at the “level of the ministry” to favour a respondent working as senior consultant in NISE. Taking up the matter, Justice Sanjay Kumar asserted: “The manner in which NISE initiated steps to make recruitment to the subject post and its machinations during that process do not augur well.”

The directions came on a petition by Sanjay Kumar through senior counsel DS Patwalia, AS Chadha and Inder Pal Goyat. Challenging a corrigendum dated March 19, 2019, issued by NISE, the petitioner had stated that an advertisement dated March 1, 2019, was modified and the post of Deputy Director General (Solar Photovoltaic) was added.

He had also challenged another corrigendum relating to the same advertisement on the grounds that tailor-made qualification of “material science/nanotechnology” was prescribed as the requisite qualification, contrary to the Recruitment Rules of 2015 to appoint respondent Sujit Pillai.

The petitioner had added that Pillai was the son of GK Pillai, former Secretary, Home Department, Government of India, and Sudha Pillai, an IAS officer, while the Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Anand Kumar, had worked as their subordinate officer at one point of time.

Justice Kumar asserted that Sujit did not choose to come forward and defend his case while Anand also did not choose to counter the allegations by way of a separate written statement and “meekly took shelter under the common written statement filed by his administrative officer, the silence of these respondents speaking volumes”.

Justice Kumar asserted that an explanation was not forthcoming on sudden inclusion of a new qualification after addition of post with prescribed qualifications and material was not placed before the court to demonstrate how “material science has anything to do with the discipline of solar photovoltaic”.

Justice Kumar added that the Recruitment Rules of 2015 specifically talked about qualifications required for appointment as a Deputy Director General. The Recruitment Rules were apparently framed in exercise of executive power, but once such rules had been put in place, these could not be overridden by passing of a resolution by the Governing Council.

Allowing the plea, Justice Kumar ordered the setting aside of the corrigenda dated March 19, 2019, and March 26, 2019, issued by NISE regarding advertisement apropos the post of Deputy Director General (Solar Photovoltaic). “The process of recruitment already initiated in this regard, be it at whatever stage, shall stand nullified,” the Bench ruled, adding that the petitioner’s claim would be analysed objectively.