Two persons cannot be appointed to same post of Deputy Collector: Supreme Court

While setting aside a 2014 judgment of the Allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court recently held that two persons cannot be appointed to the same post of Deputy Collector (State of Uttar Pradesh v. Chunni Lal)..The Bench of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna held,"Even otherwise on merits also, we are of the opinion that the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court is unsustainable. The High Court ought not to have or could not have passed an order directing the State to appoint two persons to the single post of Deputy Collector.".The case dates back to 1989, when the State Public Service Commission recommended two persons, Digvijay Singh and Chunni Lal for appointment as Deputy Collector. One Ajay Shankar Pandey approached the High Court challenging these recommendations. The High Court in May 1989 allowed the writ petition and directed the Public Service Commission to recommend the name of Pandey for the post..The State appealed against this judgment before the Supreme Court, which disposed of the same. Subsequently, Chunni Lal filed a writ petition before the High Court against the continuance of Ajay Shankar Pandey. The Division Bench of the High Court in an order passed in November 1996 directed the State/Public Service Commission to dispose of the representation made by Chunni Lal. The said representation was rejected by the State.This prompted Chunni Lal to approach the High Court again. In 2014, the High Court quashed and set aside the order rejecting the representation of Chunni Lal and directed the State to re-consider his appointment to the post of Deputy Collector. However, the High Court clarified that the appointment of Ajay Shankar Pandey shall not be disturbed in any manner. This prompted the State to approach the Supreme Court in the present appeal..The Court noted that during the pendency of the proceedings, Chunni Lal retired from the post of Deputy Transport Commission owing to superannuation, rendering him ineligible to occupy the post of the Deputy Collector. Regardless of this fact, the Bench set aside the High Court’s order, finding it to be unsustainable."Even the observation made by the High Court that the original writ petitioner be appointed without disturbing the appointment of Ajay Shankar Pandey cannot be sustained. This is because two persons cannot be directed to be appointed to a single post. Therefore, the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court deserves to be quashed and set aside," the Court held..[Read Judgment]