HC dismisses petition challenging UP Chief Secy's appointment

The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a PIL challenging the appointment of Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal.
The order was passed by the Lucknow bench of the court, headed by ChiefJustice DB Bhosale and Justice Rajan Roy, which held the public interest litigation (PIL) "not maintainable" and imposed Rs 25,000 as cost on the petitioner.
The PIL was filed by a journalist, JN Shukla,alleging that Singhal's appointment was "bad in the eyes of law".
Advocate General (AG) Vijay Bahadur Singh, along with Additional Advocate General (AAG) Bulbul Godiyal, appeared on behalf of the state government and contended that PILs were not maintainable in service matters.

The AG contended that the appointment of Singhal was as per legal provisions and there was no illegality in it.