Notice to Himachal staff selection commission Secretary

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has issued a show-cause notice to state Staff Selection Commission Secretary Jitender Kanwar, asking him why he should not be punished and prosecuted for deliberately and willfully misleading the court by placing on record unamended regulations.

The notice was issued in a case related to the selection of Junior Environmental Engineers in the State Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Board.

The bench directed Kanwar to appear personally on next date of hearing on November 29, said the order provided to the media on Monday.

A division bench of Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice C. B. Barowalia passed these orders on a petition of Kehar Singh of Mandi district, who alleged that the commission notified 12 posts of Junior Environmental Engineer for recruitment.

Two of the posts were reserved for the Other Backward Class category for which he had applied.

He said in the list 12 candidates were selected as the Junior Environmental Engineers. He was listed first in the waiting list. He said an OBC category candidate who was selected, left the job within a week.

The petitioner said he being the next candidate in the waiting list was not considered and the post was filled.

On perusal of commission records, the court observed it has no hesitation in observing that the "reliance placed by the commission on the unamended rules is in order to defeat the claim of the petitioner and a calculated attempt to mislead the court".

Interestingly, in another case the bench directed the Staff Selection Commission Secretary to appear personally on November 29 along with records relating to the appointment of a Junior Officer (P&A).

The bench passed the order on a petition of Chaman Lal of Solan district, who said in 2016 various posts along with the Junior Officer (P&A) in Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd were advertised by the staff selection commission, Hamirpur.

He said the candidate who has been selected did not possess the educational qualification mandatory for the post.

During the hearing, the court observed that the staff selection commission has adopted different yardsticks with regard to the submission of the documents by the candidates.

The court observed that in the case of posts of pump operator the candidates have been allowed to submit their certificates either by e-mail or by fax or in person, whereas in the case of the petitioner the commission had rejected his application on the ground that he had not personally handed over the certificates.IANS