HC sets aside PPSC chiefs appointment

In a major embarrassment to the Punjab government,the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside the appointment of MLA Harish Rai Dhanda as the chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission.

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In a major embarrassment to the Punjab government,the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday set aside the appointment of MLA Harish Rai Dhanda as the chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission PPSC.

In a 64-page judgment,the high court termed the state governments decision as done with a pre-conceived mind8230; not transparent and objective and that no effort was made to choose the best possible talent to discharge the Constitutional functions.

On July 7,the state government decided to appoint Dhanda as the PPSC chief but he was not administered the oath as the high court had stayed his appointment.

The HC,in a first-of-its-kind judgment,also laid down procedures for appointment of members and chairmen of public service commissions in Punjab and Haryana.

However,these procedures will be followed only till the time the states do not come up with a fair,rational,objective and transparent policy/norms to meet the mandate of Article 14 equality before law is made.

The high court has also asked the two states to constitute a search committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretaries of the respective states.

The search committee shall consist of at least three members. One of the members shall be serving principal secretary,not below the rank of financial commissioner and the third member can be serving or retired bureaucrat not below the rank of financial commissioner,or member of the Armed Forces not below the rank of Brigadier or equivalent rank, ordered the full Bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta,Justice Permod Kohli and Justice K Kannan.

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The search committee will prepare a panel of suitable candidates equal to three times the number of vacancies. While preparing the panel,the court has ruled,It shall be specifically elicited about the pendency of any civil or criminal conviction or any other proceedings that may have a bearing on the integrity and character of the candidates.

The panel prepared by the search committee shall be considered by a high powered committee consisting of the Chief Minister,Speaker of Assembly and Leader of Opposition.

After this,the panel with all the relevant materials and relative merits of candidates will be sent for the approval of the Governor.

The directions were passed on a petition filed by Salil Sabhlok through his lawyer D S Patwalia,who had challenged Dhandas appointment terming it arbitrary and unconstitutional.

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Setting aside the appointment of Dhanda,the high court took cognisance of the record produced by the state.

8220;In so far as they are relevant to the choice of chairman,they contain no more than a single sheet of the biodata of Dhanda. The decision making process on the basis of material produced shows that the appointment was made with a pre-conceived mind and in a determined manner to appoint Dhanda as the chairman,8221; Justice Hemant Guptas judgement read.