The chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC), Ram Sewak Yadav, and three other members have moved Allahabad High Court against a vigilance inquiry ordered against them. Their writ petition alleges that the “inquiry is illegal” and motivated by the “malafide intention” of the state government.In the petition, the chairman also mentioned: “On August 28, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh warned me of punitive actions if I and the other members do not resign. I informed the Governor about the incident the next day.” On August 27, the government had ordered the vigilance inquiry against the UPPSC chairman and members Somesh Yadav, C N Singh, Zahid Khan, Dr Pankaj and A K Chaturvedi for alleged irregularity in the selection of Provincial Civil Services (Judiciary) 2003 and Women Medical Officers (Allopathy), 2005. The inquiry also sought to know the assets of a few of them. Ram Sewak told The Indian Express: “The Bahujan Samaj Party government has initiated an inquiry against me and other members, who were appointed during the Samajwadi Party regime.”While the inquiry is directed against six persons, the government has spared three members, two of whom were appointed during the BSP government and one in the SP regime. The UPPSC has eight members and a chairman. The charges of the irregularity had surfaced in 2003 from some of the candidates in the exam. They took the matter to the High Court and subsequently to the Supreme Court, but both courts gave clean chit to the UPPSC. In case of the 2005 selections, 27 complaints were filed and the UPPSC had instituted an internal inquiry. Even so, the matter went to the High Court, but the candidates lost the case.“One can well guess the intention of the state government in that it has ordered a vigilance inquiry even after the decision of the apex court,” the chairman said. “The state government wanted to appoint its own men and has resorted to illegal means to remove us. Since it cannot oust us before our six-year term expires, it is trying to harass us,” he said.The petition challenged the inquiry on the ground that the UPPSC was governed by the Uttar Pradesh State Public (Regulation of Procedure) Act 1985 and the state government or any other state agency does not have any power to remove its members or initiate any inquiry against them.The petitioners’ counsel R N Singh requested the court to stay the operation of the inquiry.The Division Bench of Justice Janardan Sahai and Justice Poonam Srivastava asked the government to file a counter-affidavit within three weeks. The next hearing is on October 20.
