The Special Petition (SLP) filed in the Supreme Court by 228 employees who were dismissed from the Assembly Secretariat has been dismissed.
Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan said that after the Supreme Court rejected the petition, the advocates of the petitioners requested the double bench to withdraw the petition, which was accepted. The Speaker of the Assembly termed this decision of the Supreme Court as a victory of justice.
Services of 228 employees were terminated:
The matter of backdoor recruitment in the Vidhansabha came up for discussion in August this year. When the matter caught fire, Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan constituted a three-member committee under the chairmanship of former Principal Secretary DK Kotia regarding the employees appointed after 2012.
Based on the report of the committee, the services of 228 employees were terminated. The dismissed employees challenged this order in the High Court.
The Single Bench of the High Court had ordered the reinstatement of the dismissed employees. On this, the Assembly Secretariat filed a special appeal challenging the order of the single bench.
On November 24, a double bench of the High Court heard the matter and quashed the order of the single bench, upholding the decision of the Speaker. This decision of the High Court was challenged by the dismissed employees in the Supreme Court, which was heard on Thursday.
Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan said that the double bench of the Supreme Court rejected the petition of the sacked employees. After this, the advocates of the petitioners talked about withdrawing this petition, which was allowed by the double bench.
The Assembly Speaker said that this is the victory of the youth of Uttarakhand. She had said earlier also that this is a tough decision, but will not back down from taking this decision. The report given by the Kotia committee was correct.
Chief Minister Dhami welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court:
Chief Minister Dhami has welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court. He said that we assure the youth of the state that no injustice will be allowed to happen to the talented youth. Appointments are being made on all the vacant posts in a time-bound manner with full transparency. The government has made elaborate arrangements for this.
