In a judgment of far-reaching consequences, the high court on Friday quashed the absorption of 1,347 junior engineers and assistant engineers.
A division bench headed by Justice N. Kumar struck down the order of the State government which had recruited junior engineers and assistant engineers between 2003 and 2004 among SC/ST categories while filling up the backlog vacancies in the Public Works (PWD), Panchayat Raj and Irrigation departments.
The Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, in 2009, had quashed the May 25, 2005 notification absorbing the engineers, who, till then, were working on contract basis. The KAT had also asked the government to initiate a probe against the PWD secretary for undertaking such an exercise, which is against the SC rulings.
The high court, while striking down the absorption of engineers, directed the government to initiate recruitment for the backlog vacancies under the provisions of the Karnataka State Civil Service (Unfilled vacancies reserved for persons belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe) Special Recruitment Rules 2001 and complete it within a period of six months with the outer limit being one year.
“All the persons absorbed, appointed or regularized are permitted to be continued in service till fresh appointments are made in pursuance of the rules,” the court ordered.
State plea rejected
The high court on Friday rejected an application by the State government proposing the name of ADGP (law and order) Bipin Gopalakrishna, as convener of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to enquire into the March 2 violence at City Civil Courts Complex.
The state had filed the application on the ground that DGP R.K. Dutta, who is appointed as the convener of SIT by the high court, has been requisitioned to take up the assignment of Additional Director, CBI by the Union Home ministry and hence requires modification to the composition of SIT.
Award taken away
The HC on Friday cancelled the Ekalavya award-2010 given to skater Sharanya Mahesh and directed the state to confer it on Pragna, a skating champion who is more eligible for the award.
The court passed the orders after the state admitted that an error has taken place while selecting Sharanya against Pragna for the Ekalavya award 2010. The state has been told to give the award to Pragna on August 29, which is National Sports Day.