The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has ordered the appointment of former additional director in the Department of Industries and Commerce in Haryana, Mr. Ashwani Kumar Gupta, into the IAS. Mr. Gupta was appointed to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) by way of selection following the ruling by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chandigarh Branch.
Mr. Gupta has now been appointed as the additional managing director of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).
As per an earlier ruling by the CAT, the UPSC had send the names of five non-SCS officers for selection to the IAS. Mr. Gupta’s name was featured in serial number one. On the same date, another notification was issued by the competent authority appointing four candidates to IAS against the vacancies determined by the Union government. However, Mr Gupta’s name was omitted from this final list.
Upon inquiry, Mr. Gupta was told his name did not feature in the appointee list as he had retired from his previous post (state service).
In his plea before the CAT, Mr. Gupta said that “the right of appointment to all India service for non-SCS officers flowed only from the date of approval of the recommendation of the selection committee by the UPSC.” Thus, he argued that despite completing all formalities, the concerned authority had not provided him with the necessary information regarding his appointment to the IAS.
Upon minutely screening the case, the CAT found that the UPSC was at fault for not explaining the delay in preparing and approving the select list and the objection raised by the Union personnel ministry pointing at Mr Gupta’s retirement was “not maintainable in the eyes of the law.”
The CAT’s bench finally issued a direction before the central government to consider Mr. Gupta’s case and appoint him to the IAS, especially as the persons below him in the list had already been inducted into the IAS cadre.
