HC orders removal of two judicial officers

The Patna High Court has held the appointment of two judicial officers under the reserved Scheduled Castes category as illegal and ordered their removal from the posts.

The Patna High Court has held the appointment of two judicial officers under the reserved Scheduled Castes (SC) category as illegal and ordered their removal from the posts.

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In its judgement, a division bench of the court on Thursday said the appointment of judicial officers Manoj Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar through the 26th Bihar Judicial Service Examination was illegal.

The judge held that a Dalit of another state is not entitled to reservation in state to which he has migrated.

The court ordered that the Bihar Public Service Commission should expeditiously appoint the candidates below in the SC category merit list in place of Manoj Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar.

The court order came in response to a petition filed by Baleshwar Prasad Rajak, who sought to be appointed as a civil judge (junior division) under the reserved category in place of either Manoj Kumar or Sanjeev Kumar as they did not fulfil the eligibility criteria.

In his petition, Rajak said that both the judicial officers had been residing in Patna for only the past 10 years and their fathers were permanent residents of Uttar Pradesh. He referred to a government notification that stated that there is a bar on the appointment of reserved category candidates who are not originally from Bihar.