Express News Service Sunday , August 31, 2008
Chandigarh, August 30 The Punjab and Haryana High Court will shortly file a special leave petition (SLP), challenging its own ruling with regard to the reinstatement of 31 Punjab Civil Services (Judicial) officers. A decision to this effect has been taken by the administrative wing of the High Court after an in-house consensus on the issue.
Chandigarh, August 30 The Punjab and Haryana High Court will shortly file a special leave petition (SLP), challenging its own ruling with regard to the reinstatement of 31 Punjab Civil Services (Judicial) officers. A decision to this effect has been taken by the administrative wing of the High Court after an in-house consensus on the issue.
The order in question was pronounced on May 27 this year by its Full Bench comprising the then Chief Justice Vijender Kumar Jain, Justice H S Bhalla and Justice Rajesh Bindal.
It had ordered reinstatement of the 31 judicial officers who were dismissed during the tenure of the controversial Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) chairman Ravi Sidhu.
The High Court will challenge the order on the ground that since the entire selection is under scanner, it is not possible to segregate tainted officers from the non-tainted ones and that the entire selection process is vitiated.
The Punjab government had earlier refused to challenge the order but the Haryana government had given its opinion that the order of the Full Bench could be challenged in the Supreme Court.
It had ordered reinstatement of the 31 judicial officers who were dismissed during the tenure of the controversial Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) chairman Ravi Sidhu.
The High Court will challenge the order on the ground that since the entire selection is under scanner, it is not possible to segregate tainted officers from the non-tainted ones and that the entire selection process is vitiated.
The Punjab government had earlier refused to challenge the order but the Haryana government had given its opinion that the order of the Full Bench could be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Six years after a five-judge panel of the High Court had terminated the selection of 1998-2001 batches of subordinate judges owing to their involvement in the infamous PPSC scam, the Full Bench of the HC held the 31 candidates innocent and ordered their reinstatement.
As many as 36 lower court judges, whose services were terminated on charges of corruption, had moved the High Court demanding reinstatement. While 31 had got the order in their favour, the petitions of four candidates had been dismissed as investigations against them were pending.
All the candidates had lost their jobs after Sidhu was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance on charges of taking crores of rupees from 1998 to 2001 batch officers for appointing them as judges.
The 'tainted' candidates had moved the Supreme Court, which set aside their termination and sent the case back to the High Court in 2006 for segregation of tainted judges from the non-tainted ones.
On the orders from the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel comprising Justice K S Garewal, Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Ashutosh Mohunta was constituted in 2006. While Justice Garewal had said it was not possible to segregate the tainted from the non-tainted, the other members had given their finding that the entire selection system from 1998 to 2001 was so vitiated that the services of all candidates should be immediately terminated.
Though the termination was stayed by the Supreme Court, they were not allowed to re-join the service.
The officers then moved the High Court.
Ordering the reinstatement of 31 judges, the Full Bench observed that two judges in the committee did not adhere to the Supreme Court directions.
As many as 36 lower court judges, whose services were terminated on charges of corruption, had moved the High Court demanding reinstatement. While 31 had got the order in their favour, the petitions of four candidates had been dismissed as investigations against them were pending.
All the candidates had lost their jobs after Sidhu was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance on charges of taking crores of rupees from 1998 to 2001 batch officers for appointing them as judges.
The 'tainted' candidates had moved the Supreme Court, which set aside their termination and sent the case back to the High Court in 2006 for segregation of tainted judges from the non-tainted ones.
On the orders from the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel comprising Justice K S Garewal, Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Ashutosh Mohunta was constituted in 2006. While Justice Garewal had said it was not possible to segregate the tainted from the non-tainted, the other members had given their finding that the entire selection system from 1998 to 2001 was so vitiated that the services of all candidates should be immediately terminated.
Though the termination was stayed by the Supreme Court, they were not allowed to re-join the service.
The officers then moved the High Court.
Ordering the reinstatement of 31 judges, the Full Bench observed that two judges in the committee did not adhere to the Supreme Court directions.
No comments:
Post a Comment