Case on appointment of Dy Collector in UP closed after 37 yrs

One-liner: In an unusual case, the legal fight of a man to get appointed as a Deputy Collector, the post for which examinations were held 37 years ago, in Uttar Pradesh came to an end on Tuesday in the Supreme Court which recorded that he has demitted present office in 2019 on attaining the age of superannuation.

Appeal allowed: The top court allowed the appeal of the UP govt against the 2014 verdict of the Allahabad HC which had asked it to appoint Chunni Lal, since retired as Deputy Transport Commissioner, as the Deputy Collector.

• A bench noted that the now impugned judgment of the HC was not capable of being implemented as there is no purpose of now appointing respondent No.1 (Chunni Lal) to the post of Deputy Collector
• Referring to merits as well, the top court said two persons cannot be directed to be appointed to a single post. Therefore, the impugned judgment and order passed by the HC deserves to be quashed and set aside

History of the case: As per the history of the case, the selection process for 35 posts of Deputy Collector was initiated by the UP Public Service Commission and examinations were held in 1985.

• In the year 1987, the UPPSC sent a requisition for the appointment of selected candidates for the post of Deputy Collector and two posts remained vacant
• This led to a protracted legal fight as the Public Service Commission sent the names of two other candidates namely Digvijay Singh and Chunni Lal for the appointment as Deputy Collector

Another man wins: Meanwhile, one Ajay Shankar Pandey moved the HC and won the case for being appointed as the Deputy Collector in 1989 in the general category, and consequently, the UPPSC withdrew the recommendation made in favour of Chunni Lal, who then knocked on the doors of the HC.

• Chunni Lal filed the petition against the continuance of Ajay Shankar Pandey and was asked by the HC to give a representation which was rejected by the UPPCS on Nov 13, 1996

Top court opinion: While deciding the appeal, the top court said that Chunni Lal, the original writ petitioner, retired in the post of Deputy Transport Commissioner on Aug 31, 2019, on attaining the age of superannuation.

• So, the order passed by the HC is not capable of being implemented as there is no purpose of now appointing him