Supreme Court Issues Notice In Plea Against "Backdoor Appointments" At J&K High Court

Noting that serious allegations have been levelled in the petition, a Bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli issued notice in the matter.

"We will issue notice, there are serious allegations in this matter."

The petition avers that relatives of existing members of the staff as well as present and former Judges of the High Court have been appointed without following due selection process. It assails appointments made from 2007 onwards adhoc or through advertisements as 'suspicious'. The petition provides a list indicative of the existing members of staff and the Judges of High Court who have extended favour to their kin and kith. 

It further states - 

"There are instances where amendments have been made in the existing rules just to facilitate backdoor appointments and/or facilitating the appointment of kins of functionaries against higher cadres who otherwise were eligible only for lower cadres and that that too if selected after a regular legal recruitment process."

It alleges that there was lack of transparent selection process in making these appointments. It further submits that no public notice or advertisement had been issued and the appointees were chosen in the most arbitrary manner. In this regard, it  avers -

"In the humble view of the petitioner organisation no individual or persons have a high to occupy public office without being selected and appointed in accordance with the procedure established by law."

The petition submits that there were highly qualified candidates who could have been appointed if a fair selection process was adopted. It alleges that there are a host of daily wagers working in various courts for more than a decade who have not been regularised. Only the ones who are close to the officers at the High Courts have been considered for regularisation. 

The Bench made the notice returnable in 6 weeks. Liberty was granted to serve the administrative wing of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court. In the meanwhile, it asked the High Court to file its counter affidavit. Considering that allegations have been raised against some sitting judges of the High Court as well, the Bench categorically directed the concerned Registrar of the High Court to place the counter affidavit only before the Chief Justice of the High Court to get it vetted and approved.

By an order dated 14.06.2016, the High Court had engaged personnels on contractual basis for different posts in e-Courts. Thereafter, in 2018, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir by way of a Government Order (GO) created 74 posts of Senior System Officer, System Officer and System Assistant for e-Courts Mission Mode Project. The same year, the Government created posts for e-courts mission project. The High Court resolved to allocate these newly created posts and accordingly laid down qualification requirements. However, in 2019, all the contractual employees of the e-Courts appointed in 2016 were absorbed into the newly created posts by the High Court. The petitioner had made representations to the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking quashing of all backdoor appointments of e-Court staff. The petitioner alleges that the regularisation of the contractual employees without any guiding principle is a gross violation of Article 14 and Article 16 of the Constitution of India, 1950. 

Apart from seeking quashing of backdoor appointments, the petition seeks indulgence of the Apex Court for directions to respondents to refrain from making further backdoor appointments at these institutions. It also implores the Apex Court to direct enquiry through a credible agency against the officers who have dealt with the process of backdoor appointments as well as those officials who have benefited from such appointments.

The petition has been filed through AoR, Mr. Raj Kishore Choudhary.

[Case Status: Jammu And Kashmir Peoples Forum v. High Court of Jammu And Kashmir And Ors. W.P.(C) No. 702/2022]

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