Gujarat HC upholds termination of court staff

The Gujarat High Court today upheld the termination of services of 94 HC employees recruited by the Court administration under the then Acting Chief Justice V M Sahai.
A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi dismissed the plea of these employees who had challenged the verdict of a single HC Judge in December last year that went against them.
Sahai had made the recruitments before August 2015 using special powers under Article 229 of the Constitution.
City-based RTI activist Ajay Prajapati had in August filed an affidavit before the HC, saying due process was not followed and several rules were flouted by the High Court in recruiting these Class IV employees which included peons.

During the hearing of the PIL, a committee of HC Judges was formed to probe the allegations of "flouting" of rules by Sahai while making these recruitments.
Based on the panel's findings, on September 25 last year, when Sahai retired, the HC cancelled the alleged irregular recruitments to these 94 Class IV posts.