HC dismisses PIL on appointment of new UP Chief Secretary

The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a petition challenging the recent appointment of senior IAS officer Alok Ranjan as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Ram Surat Ram Maurya dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by one Prakash Chand Srivastava, concurring with the state government's view that a petition was not maintainable in a service matter.
Additional Advocate General Kamal Singh Yadav, who had argued on behalf of the State, told PTI "we cited a number of orders, including one passed by the Supreme Court, to stress the point that a PIL was not maintainable in a service matter. The court had reserved its judgement on June 3 and it dismissed the petition today agreeing with our contention."

The petitioner had challenged the appointment of Alok Ranjan to the top post, on May 31 last, contending that the IAS officer was facing CBI inquiry in connection with alleged financial irregularities that took place during his tenure as the Managing Director of NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd) from 2003-2006.
The petitioner had also submitted that subsequent to the CBI probe which began following a Delhi High Court order, two charge sheets had been submitted against Ranjan at Mumbai in 2009 and at Delhi in 2010.