Mumbai: Suspended officer drags MERC to HC for ‘hiring ineligible candidate’

A suspended section officer Pradeep Mohare of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission MERC has questioned the appointment of an underexperienced individual to the post which subsequently led to the individualrsquos promotion as under secretary and denied the same to Mohare Last week Mohare filed the rare writ of Quo Warranto calling upon a person to explain under what authority of law he was occupying a public post before the Bombay High Court HCMoharersquos petition claimed that the individualrsquos appointment violated the MERC Recruitment and Conditions of Services of Employees Regulation 2007Acting on another complaint the MERC formed an internal panel which determined that there were flaws in the under secretaryrsquos recruitment No action was taken against the appointed employee as the flaws were not his fault On the other hand the office of the Accountant General Audit II Maharashtra too questioned the appointment and sought MERCrsquos explanation With no action taken Mohare moved the HCMoharersquos advocate speaksMohare filed the writ against The State of Maharashtra through the Secretary Industry Energy and Labour Department Mantralaya Respondent 1 MERC through its Chairman Respondent 2 and Under Secretary MERC Respondent 3Rajeshwar Panchal the petitionerrsquos advocateMoharersquos advocate Rajeshwar Panchal said ldquoThe appointment of Respondent 3 on the post of section officer and subsequent promotion to the post of under secretary deprived Mohare of the legitimate right of promotion as he had the qualification and work experiencerdquoMohare joined MERC as section officer on September 9 2010 According to an advertisement by MERC in 2009 for the position of section officer candidates were required to have a degree from a recognised university experience of five years in administration or finance or law and proficiency in written and verbal communication skills Preference was to be given to candidates having more than five years of working knowledge of accounting procedure tax matters operating of accounting software and finalisation of accounts establishment and administrationldquoRespondent 3 under secretary applied for two posts He was allegedly found ineligible for the post of clerktypistcum office assistant which required experience of one year and a degree but was found eligible for the post of section officer which required five yearsrsquo work experience and a degree Yet he was appointed as a section officerrdquo said PanchalldquoEven though the internal committee appointed by MERC found that Respondent 3 was ineligible he was promoted to the post of under secretary The file was closed without taking any actionrdquo Panchal saidPanchal continued ldquoEven though the Accountant General Audit II Maharashtra called for clarification on the appointment Respondent 3rsquos service was regularised This violates a state government circular of August 25 2005 and a Government Resolution of October 12 1993rdquo Panchal addedMoharersquos petition includes remarks from 2018 from the internal committee set up by MERC The questions raised by the Accountant General Audit II Maharashtra were revealed in an RTI raised by Anilkumar Ukey in 2022According to the petition Respondent 3 passed BCom from Mumbai University in 2006 and claimed experience of five years and ten months in 2009 This cannot be possible as experience is reckoned from the date of attaining the minimum required educational qualification Further no supporting documentation was submitted by him As such the appointment was irregular ab initioMohare told midday ldquoI am not authorised to speak to the media My advocate Rajeshwar Panchal has already filed both the writs in Bombay HC and I am sure justice will prevailrdquo said Pradeep MohareTwo petitions in courtldquoOur petition seeks issuance of writ of quo warranto nullifying the appointment of Respondent 3 who didnrsquot have the required qualifications as per Recruitment Rules A writ of certiorari has been filed challenging my clientrsquos unlawful suspensionrdquo said Advocate PanchalldquoThe petition is likely to be listed for hearing very soon Recently the Nagpur Bench of High Court of Bombay issued a writ of quo warranto and nullified the appointment of one person appointed by MERC This would be the second such case coming before the HC The inspection report of the Auditor General also shows other cases of appointments of individuals despite them not having the qualificationsrdquo Panchal saidAttempts made to contact MERC did not yield any result