The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has set aside the dismissal of more than two dozen general category junior engineers employed by Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, ruling that staff recruited through a regular selection process cannot be punished for administrative mistakes made by state officials.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Irshad Ali ruled in favor of junior engineer Rakesh Pratap Singh and 25 co-petitioners. The bench directed the state utility to allow the affected personnel to remain in service and restored their continuity of service from their original appointment date of October 21, 2013.
Restoration Of Service And Jurisdictional Findings
The high court quashed the termination orders issued on May 14, 2015, along with a related order passed by the State Backward Classes Commission on January 28, 2014. The court found that the commission had operated outside its statutory authority, making subsequent administrative actions based on that decision legally unsustainable.
Addressing the broader legal principles, the bench affirmed that while statutory reservation policies must be strictly followed, administrative bodies cannot adopt procedures that violate established laws or alter original selection terms to fix past errors. The court noted that the petitioners were appointed by a competent authority to sanctioned positions following a proper selection process, with no evidence or allegations of misrepresentation, fraud, or wrongdoing on their part.
Background Of The Recruitment Conflict
The dispute stems from a 2013 hiring initiative by UP Jal Nigam to fill 470 junior engineer positions. Following objections over candidate selection in reserved categories, the managing director of Jal Nigam established a three-member inquiry committee on January 7, 2014.
In a report submitted on January 15, 2014, the committee recommended accommodating eligible reserved-category applicants who had been overlooked into 469 vacancies available during a subsequent phase. The panel explicitly advised against removing any previously selected general category personnel. Jal Nigam accepted these findings and subsequently hired 136 additional Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes candidates, bringing total appointments across available vacancies to 543.
Flawed Administrative Procedures
Despite the committee’s explicit guidance, Jal Nigam issued termination notices to 73 general category junior engineers on December 2, 2014. The affected employees challenged the decision, prompting a high court ruling on December 18, 2014, that quashed the dismissals and instructed the utility to reassess the situation.
In the latest judgment, the court noted that Jal Nigam failed to challenge the December 2014 judicial directive, rendering it legally binding. Rather than complying, authorities proceeded with show-cause notices that framed dismissal as unavoidable, treating the process as a mere formality rather than genuinely evaluating the petitioners’ objections.
The court rejected Jal Nigam’s argument that termination was the sole legal remedy, emphasizing that additional reserved-category personnel had already been successfully absorbed into existing vacancies. The bench added that financial hardship cannot be cited to justify administrative actions that are arbitrary, unauthorized, or contrary to binding judicial orders.
