Allahabad HC strikes down UPPSC chief's appointment

The bio-data of Anil Yadav, who has some five criminal cases pending against him, was reportedly sent through fax bearing the print of Samajwadi Party central office in New Delhi and formalities of appointment were completed within a matter of 48 hours. Sharat Pradhan reports

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the appointment of controversial Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission chairman Anil Yadav, who was accused of turning the state's highest recruitment body into a private fiefdom by handpicking largely Yadavs for all top jobs.

The bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Varma seriously reprimanded the state government for bypassing all rules and conventions in making the appointment.

The court also took serious note of some five criminal cases pending against Yadav, who faced violent protests by students in Allahabad after his pro-Yadav campaign got blatantly exposed with the selection of 54 Yadavs against 86 positions of sub-divisional magistrates in the state.

This was the third key appointment thrown away by the high court, which had already ordered removal of chairpersons of Higher Education Recruitment Board and the Secondary Education Selection Board.

Barely five days back the high court also cancelled the appointment of Rizwanul Rehman, who had been elevated from a clerical position to don the mantle of Public Service Commission secretary, a position usually held by senior IAS officers.

The issue was raised through a PIL after students took to streets in Allahabad in the wake of most jobs under the service commission going to the Yadav community.

Interestingly, the court also discovered that the bio-data of Anil Yadav had been forwarded through fax to the Akhilesh Yadav government by the ruling Samajwadi Party central office in Delhi, which reportedly functions under total control of Akhilesh’s uncle and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cousin Ram Gopal Yadav.

It is no secret that Ram Gopal Yadav wields the remote control of the Akhilesh government.

Technically, he may just be known as the party’s most important general secretary and its leader in the Rajya Sabha. But most key and lucrative bureaucratic appointments in the National Capital Region were allegedly made on his directions.

Irked by gross violation of the laid-down rules and conventions, students appearig in various competitive examinations formed what was called a Pratoyogi Chattra Sanghrash Samiti.

Student activists Avneesh Pandey and Ayodhya Singh were the first to move a PIL under the banner of the samiti on February 10, 2014. Yet another PIL was moved by advocate Satish Singh.

However, both PILs got dismissed for one reason or the other, following which yet another PIL was filed by the India Rejuvenation Initiative -- a voluntary body fighting for probity in public life.

Celebrated IPS officer Julio Ribeiro, who earned laurels as both Punjab director general of police and still earlier as Mumbai Police commissioner, took up the cause as the IRI petitioner.

This time when the matter went before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Verma, who took serious note of the issues raised in the PIL. And what took the case to its logical conclusion was the revelation that Anil Yadav's bio-data was sent through fax bearing the print of Samajwadi Party central office in New Delhi.

Interestingly, the formalities relating to the appointment were completed within a matter of 48 hours.