Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 6: A Bench of the Apex Court comprising Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre today dismissed as withdrawn the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Prof Nutan Kumar Resutra, who had challenged the Judgment of the Division Bench of the State High Court dated December 11, 2014.
By way of judgment dated December 11, 2014 the State High Court had directed the removal of Prof Resutra as Chairman of J&K Board of School Education and had issued further directions for completion of disciplinary proceedings against him.
The Division Bench had directed the State of J&K to pass appropriate orders suspending SRO 452 dated October 22, 2014 appointing Resutra as Chairman J&K BOSE and reconsider the matter after the completion of the departmental enquiry.
Today when the SLP came up for hearing before the Apex Court Senior Advocate K V Vishwanathan along with Senior Advocate Permod Kohli with Advocate Shirin Khajuria submitted that the Judgment passed by the Division Bench was not sustainable as in the PIL the appointment of the petitioner was called in question which is a service matter and the same cannot be agitated in a Public Interest Litigation.
However, Advocate General R A Jan along with Advocate Ashok Mathur appearing for the State of J&K vehemently resisted the arguments of Senior Advocate K V Vishwanathan and defended the impugned judgment. The Advocate General vociferously argued that the enquiry stands already completed wherein Prof Resutra stands indicted and the State has also served him the proposed notice of penalty and the final orders are likely to be issued against the petitioner.
He further submitted that in view of the serious allegations which stand established in the enquiry the petitioner cannot be allowed to occupy the coveted post of Chairman BOSE. “The Division Bench of the State High Court has rightly observed that the persons facing allegations of corruption should not occupy the public dealing posts”, he added.
After considering the rival contentions, the Supreme Court Bench, in the open court, dismissed as withdrawn the Special Leave Petition filed by Prof Nutan Kumar Resutra thereby upholding the Judgment of the Division Bench passed on December 11, 2014.
It is pertinent to mention here that Division Bench of the State High Court headed by the then Chief Justice M M Kumar in a PIL titled Sheikh Mohammad Shafi & Anr V/s Union of India & Ors had castigated the action of the State in appointing Prof Resutra as Chairman BOSE when he was facing disciplinary proceedings.
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