Allahabad HC quashes Anil Yadav's appointment to post of UPPSC Chairman

ALLAHABAD: In an embarrassment to the UP government, the Allahabad High Court today held it guilty of "breach of provisions of Constitution" in appointing Anil Yadav as Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission and quashed the appointment, terming it as "illegal".

A division bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Verma passed the order disposing of a batch of petitions, led by a PIL filed by one Satish Kumar Singh.

The petitions had challenged the appointment of Yadav, whose more than two-year-old tenure has been mired in controversies.

The court held that the appointment of Yadav as UPPSC Chairman was "ultra vires" of Article 360 of the Constitution wherein guidelines have been laid down for the appointment of Chairman and other members of Public Service Commissions.

The court said the state government had committed "breach of Constitutional duty" by appointing Yadav in an "arbitrary" and "illegal" manner while ruling that the appointment "is hereby quashed and set aside".

It was alleged before the court that ever since Yadav was appointed to the post in April, 2013, examinations conducted by the UPPSC have been marred by irregularities, including the leak of question papers for the civil services preliminary exams in March this year.

Among other reasons cited for challenging Yadav's appointment were a number of "criminal cases" pending against him.

During the course of hearing, which began in May this year, the court had wondered "what is so special about Anil Yadav" who was appointed to the post ignoring the claims of 82 other candidates who had submitted their bio-data while the selection process was on.

The court had also noted with concern that when the Chief Secretary sent a letter to the District Magistrate of Mainpuri seeking a character certificate for Yadav, the same was issued on the very same day "despite it being a Sunday".