HC orders state power company to appoint 31 CAs selected in 2005

The court passed the order on a petition seeking directions to the UPPCL for issuing appointment letters to the petitioners and quashing a resolution of UPPCL’s Service Board in 2008, through which the said selections were cancelled.

Quashing the resolution, the court said it was arbitrary as no reasons were assigned for cancelling the selections carried out under due process. Passing the order on a petition filed by Neeraj Chaurasia and others (all chartered accountants) on Friday, a division bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Virendra Vikram Singh said: “The resolution of the respondent Board (UPPCL Service Board) dated November 3, 2008, and its approval (dated December 29, 2008) are hereby quashed. The respondents (UPPCL and UPPCL Service Board) are to appoint the petitioners for the post of accounts officers within a period of three months.”

The court rejected UPPCL’s contention that the selected candidates did not have a right to appointment just because they had been selected through written tests and interviews. The UPPCL had also argued that they had every right to cancel the appointments or alter the number of posts.

However, citing Supreme Court judgements, the court said that once a selection process was duly carried out, the recruiting authority could not reduce it to a farce by cancelling the entire process without any valid reason. Also,

... contd.