HC to hear PIL against appointment of CMD of government mint

The Delhi High Court today agreed to hear a plea challenging the appointment of the current CMD of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) which produces bank notes, coins, non-judicial stamps, postage stamps and other government-related documents.
A public interest petition (PIL) was mentioned before a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul who directed that the matter be listed before the concerned court tomorrow.
The PIL alleges that the current Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of SPMCIL, M S Rana, "secured his appointment through fraudulent means by misrepresenting and supplying false information in his application submitted as a candidate for the said post".

According to the petitioner Shiv Deep Baliyan, one of the qualifications for being appointed to the post was that the candidate should be a government servant of a level equivalent to that of an Additional Secretary.
The petition, filed through advocate Vardhman Kaushik, has alleged that at the time of his appointment in March, 2009, Rana did not fulfil the eligibility criteria for the post but he had suppressed the fact.
Seeking the ouster of Rana from the post of CMD, the petitioner has submitted that in 2011 "an inquiry was directed in respect of procurement of one-line security printing machine at Bank Note Press unit at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh against Rana and four other officials of SPMCIL."

The petition also seeks directions to the Centre, Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB), Appointment Committee on Cabinet (ACC), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and SPMCIL "to investigate in respect of illegal appointment of the respondent 11 (Rana) and take consequential actions in accordance with law".