Allahabad HC restores jobs of 26 general-category engineers: 'Employees can't bear admin lapses'

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court quashed the termination of 26 general-category junior engineers recruited by the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam in 2013, ruling that employees cannot be made to suffer for administrative errors in the recruitment process.

Justice Irshad Ali, hearing petitions filed by Rakesh Pratap Singh and 25 other engineers, held that the petitioners had been selected through a regular process by the competent authority against sanctioned posts. There were no allegations that they had secured their appointments through fraud, misrepresentation or manipulation.

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The court said while the reservation policy must be implemented, authorities must also follow the law while doing so. "There can be no dispute with the proposition that statutory reservation is required to be faithfully implemented. However, the implementation of reservation must itself be in accordance with the statutory scheme," the bench observed.

The bench also struck down a January 28, 2014 order of the State Backward Classes Commission, finding that it had been issued without jurisdiction. It said that administrative action based on an order lacking legal foundation could not be independently sustained.

What is the UP Jal Nigam recruitment case

The dispute arose after the Jal Nigam's 2013 recruitment for the post of 470 junior engineer. Candidates were initially selected category-wise. After objections were raised over the selection of some reserved-category candidates, the Jal Nigam's managing director set up a three-member committee on January 7, 2014, to examine the matter.

According to senior advocate Upendra Nath Mishra, who represented the petitioners, the committee's January 15 report recommended accommodating eligible SC and OBC candidates who had been left out against 469 vacancies available in the second phase. It recommended that already selected general-category candidates should not be removed.

The authorities accepted the recommendation and subsequently appointed 136 additional SC/OBC candidates, taking the total number of appointments to 543 against the original 470 posts.

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Despite the committee's recommendation, the services of 73 general-category junior engineers, including Rakesh Pratap Singh, were terminated on December 2, 2014. The affected employees challenged the decision before the High Court, which quashed the terminations on December 18, 2014, and directed the Jal Nigam to reconsider the matter.

In its latest ruling, the court noted that the 2014 judgment had never been challenged before a higher court and therefore remained binding on the Jal Nigam. The authorities nevertheless proceeded in a manner inconsistent with those directions.

The court also criticised the subsequent proceedings, observing that the show-cause notice issued to the engineers appeared to treat termination as a foregone conclusion. It stressed that a show-cause notice cannot be an empty formality and that authorities must genuinely consider an employee's response and address the objections raised.

The engineers had questioned, among other things, the category-wise selection process, the applicability of reservation rules, the Backward Classes Commission's jurisdiction, the availability of vacancies and the effect of the earlier High Court ruling.

Rejecting the Jal Nigam's argument that terminating the general-category engineers was unavoidable, the court pointed out that additional reserved-category candidates had already been accommodated against available vacancies.

It also held that financial constraints could not legitimise an action that was without jurisdiction, arbitrary, contrary to statutory provisions or inconsistent with binding court orders.

The court quashed the May 14, 2015, termination orders and directed the Jal Nigam to allow the petitioners to continue in service. The engineers will retain continuity of service from their original appointment date of October 21, 2013.