Chennai: The Madras high court has ordered notice to the Union and Puducherry governments on a PIL challenging the appointment of G. Theva Neethi Dhas, IAS, as officer on Special duty to Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
A division bench comprising Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam posted to December 7, further hearing of the PIL filed by P. Saravanan of Puducherry.
According to petitioner, on a proposal sent by the Lt.Governor, Puducherry on April 17, 2018, the Union government had sent a reply stating that Theva Neethi Dhas cannot be appointed as Advisor to the Lt.Governor but may be considered for assignment of consultancy for a fixed period. In the meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Puducherry had on June 29, 2018 wrote a letter to the Governor to name the successor of the said Theva Neethi Dhas, who was scheduled to retire on June 30, 2018, he added.
He said the Confidential and Cabinet department had on June 26, 2018, while marking a copy to the Chief Minister, issued a letter of proposal and pursuant to the same, Dhas's offer of engagement was given and he was appointed as officer on Special duty for a period of 2 years from July 1, 2018 at a contractual fee of '1,16,737 per month. The engagement of Dhas as officer on Special duty was illegal.
The procedure for appointment of retired government officials as consultants shall be on submission of a proposal before the consultancy evaluation committee consisting of department officials concerned. In the present case, the procedure was totally violated. Moreover, there was no such post as officer on special duty to Lt.Governor was available, he added.
