Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 6: A special Division Bench of State High Court comprising Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Sanjay Kumar Gupta today directed that the State Government shall not finalize the selection process for the post of Secretary J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages till next date of hearing July 8, 2019.
After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Supriya Chouhan and Himani Jamwal appearing for appellant Dr Arvinder Singh Amn, Additional Secretary JKAACL, the Division Bench issued notices to the Commissioner/ Secretary to Government General Administration Department, President J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages, Commissioner/Secretary Department of Culture, Dr (Prof) Rattan Lal Shant, Chairman of the Search Committee for the post of Secretary JKAACL, Secretary JKAACL and Deputy Secretary Department of Culture returnable within four weeks with a direction to the appellant to take steps for filing requisites within one week.
Earlier, a Single Bench of the J&K High Court vide its judgment dated May 28, 2019 had dismissed the writ petition filed by appellant Dr Arvinder Singh Amn and had vacated the interim directions issued on April 5, 2019 and had further directed the State Government to finalize the selection process for the post of Secretary JKAACL for which a panel of five persons was prepared by the Search Committee for its onward submission to the President of the Academy (Governor).
When the Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) against the judgment of the Single Judge came up for hearing before the special Division Bench, Advocate S S Ahmed appearing for the appellant vehemently argued that there are no recruitment rules/criteria framed by the President of the Academy in consultation with the State Government for the post of Secretary JKAACL as per the Constitution of the Academy and on the date of the issuance of the advertisement there was no prescribed qualification/ method of recruitment for the post in question and the Search Committee constituted for the purpose by the State Government had no mandate to frame the criteria for selection.
He specifically referred Section 8(a) of the Constitution of the Academy which says that Secretary shall be Principal Executive Officer of the Academy and shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the Government.
“The writ court fell in error while dismissing the writ petition as it non-suited the appellant primarily on the ground that the appellant had also applied pursuant to the advertisement issued by the State Government”, Advocate Ahmed said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel