CAT quashes govt move to fill up IAS posts

The Cuttack bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has quashed last year's selection procedure of Orissa government to fill two posts of IAS officers from Non-State Civil Service (NSCS) officers’ cadre and directed the state government to conduct the selection afresh within 90 days.

The Cuttack bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has quashed last year's selection procedure of Orissa government to fill two posts of IAS officers from Non-State Civil Service (NSCS) officers’ cadre and directed the state government to conduct the selection afresh within 90 days.

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Interviews for selecting candidates for vacant IAS posts were held on November 9, 2010 which was challenged by Niranjan Sethi, now deputy director in I&PR department. Admitting his application for adjudication, CAT had earlier stayed the publication of selection result.

Finally allowing the pleas of Sethi, the Tribunal administrative member CR Mohapatra and judicial member AK Patnaik yesterday held the entire selection procedure as "not sustainable."

"We are constrained to hold the selection of 9-11-2010 for filling up of two posts of IAS from NSCS officers to be non-est in the eyes of law for violating Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India," the CAT bench said in its 30-page order. It also directed the government to conduct selection afresh confining to all 10 officers, including Sethi whose names were short-listed in September 2010.