In a major embarrassment to the Samajwadi Party government, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday quashed the appointment of Dr. Anil Yadav as chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission.
Declaring Dr. Yadav’s appointment “illegal” and “arbitrary,” the court slammed the State government for appointing him “without application of mind, ignoring suitability and availability of other candidates” and for violating its “constitutional duty” in selecting Dr. Yadav without carrying out a proper inquiry with regard to his competence.
Dr. Yadav, against whom there were allegations of “favouritism in selection process” in favour of the Yadav community, was selected from among 83 people who had applied for the post.
The judgment of a Division Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud came while hearing a slew of petitions filed by several litigants, including a group of UPPSC aspirants -- “Pratiyogi Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti.” They faulted the way the State government conducted the verification of Dr. Yadav’s claims made in his resume.
The petitioners alleged that he “lied” and “chose not to reveal his criminal antecedents in cases as grave as Section 307 of the IPC which relates to attempt to murder. He was later acquitted in the criminal case.
They also alleged that Dr. Yadav had falsely claimed about his being a principal of a college in Mainpuri, the political bastion of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
It was also alleged that for an appointment which was done on April 2, 2013, the verification was done in just a day, on March 31, which interestingly was a Sunday. Moreover, the verification was not done by the police but by the District Magistrate of Mainpuri after “a special messenger of Chief Secretary told the DM that the process has to be completed by Monday.”
They alleged that he was not “qualified” to be appointed as chairman of the UPPSC as he passed High School and Intermediate both in second division with a gap of four years in between. Besides, they had highlighted allegations of plagiarism against his doctoral thesis. While disposing of the petitions against Dr. Yadav’s appointment, the court observed that Dr. Yadav lied about his earlier assignment of being the principal of a college in Mainpuri in his resume to the government, when his promotion to the post of principal was later challenged and was set aside by the High Court.
Even his subsequent Special Leave Petition at the Supreme Court was turned down, the High Court noted.
