RAJESH AWASTHI Vs. NAND LAL JAISWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) We are, in this case, concerned with the question whether the High Court was justified in issuing a writ of quo warranto holding that the appellant has no authority in continuing as Chairperson of U.P. State Electricity Regulatory Commission (for short 'the Commission') on the ground that the Selection Committee had not complied with sub-section (5) of Section 85 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (for short 'the Act').

(3.) The post of the Chairperson of the Commission fell vacant on 21.10.2008. The government of Uttar Pradesh, in exercise of its powers conferred under Section 85(1) of the Act, constituted a Selection Committee vide notification dated 22.12.2008 consisting of three members headed by a retired judge of the High Court and two other members i.e. Chief Secretary of the State of U.P. and Chairman of the Central Electricity Commission for finalizing the selection of the Chairperson. Applications were invited intimating various authorities including Ministry of GOI, CAG, CEA, all the Secretaries of Power working in different States in the country, CBDT, PSUs power sectors etc. Thirty persons applied for the post including the appellant. The meeting of the Selection Committee was held on 26.12.2008 and Selection Committee selected two persons on merit, namely, the appellant and one Mr. Amit Kumar Asthana. Panel of two names was forwarded by the Selection Committee to the government of U.P. with an asterisk against the name of the appellant stating that if he was appointed, the government would ensure first that the provisions of sub-section (5) of Section 85 of the Act would be complied with. The government appointed the appellant as the Chairman of the Commission on 29.12.2008. The appellant on that date sent a letter to the State Government stating that he had resigned from his previous assignments on 27.12.2008 and severed all his links with the private sector as required under Section 85 of the Act.