Prem Pal vs State of Himachal Pradesh and Others

Kurian Joseph, C.J.—The petitioner has filed this writ petition with the following prayers:

7.a) That the selection and appointment of the respondent No. 4 on the post of Asstt. Secretary Panchayat in the above said gram Panchayat may kindly be ordered to be quashed and set aside.

b) That the respondent No. 1 to 3 may kindly be directed to consider the name of the applicant on the above said post as he is having higher experience and qualifications.

In the reply at page 10, para-6 (i-vii), it is stated thus:

(i-vii) That in reply to these sub-paras it is submitted that respondent No. 4 i.e. Sh. Uttam Singh was selected but before appointment of respondent No. 4 it was found that he was the brother of the then Up-Pradhan of the concerned Gram Panchyat. Therefore, since, his appointment was in violation of Rule-137 of H.P. Panchayati Raj (General) Rules, 1997 and thus, his services were terminated on this ground alone by S.D.O.(C), Rajgarh vide order dated 29.02.2000 under the provision of Rule 138. It is reiterated as in supra para-3, that as per the interview conducted on 28.09.2001 of Gram Panchayat Dhar Tikri, respondent No. 4 was selected on the basis of the merit and in addition to the past experience as this time his selection was not in violation of Section -137 of H.P. Panchayati Raj (General) Rules, 1997 and with regard to this selection, it is pertinent to mention here that this time the applicant Sh. Prem Pal did not appear for the said interview.

In view of the above reply, the writ petition is dismissed, so also the pending application(s), if any.