Karnataka HC stays appointment of vehicle inspectors
25 Oct, 2012The Division Bench comprising of Justices B Sreedhar Rao and Suri Appa Rao of the Karnataka High Court has stayed the appointment process for the posts of motor vehicle inspectors.
Hearing a petition filed by Kamble Satish Kumar, a job aspirant, who alleged that the number of posts for which the applications were invited had been reduced at the instance of the transport minister, the interim order was made by the bench. He had applied under the quota for project-displaced persons and claimed that the reduction of posts had been done without the approval of the Cabinet.
It was claimed that the Karnataka government had originally invited applications for recruitment of 245 inspectors, which was later reduced to 145. The petitioner alleged that the transport minister curtailed the number of posts in an arbitrary manner without following the procedures prescribed under the Karnataka Civil Service Rules, 1977, and Karnataka Government Transaction of Business Rules, 1977.
Referring to information provided to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, it was contended that 193 posts still remained vacant even after 145 candidates were selected.
The petitioner argued contended that it was highly untenable and illegal to contend on the one hand that there were no vacancies (and consequently reduce the vacancies), and on the other appoint personnel through ‘backdoor entry’, against the very same vacancies which were illegally reduced. The Karnataka High Court Bench stayed the appointment of motor vehicle inspectors.
The Transport department has sanctioned more than 423 posts.,