Shillong, July 8: The Meghalaya High Court has directed the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) to revert its order of cancellation of appointment of four persons in different jobs.
The four persons were duly appointed by NECTAR in 2021 only to be terminated in 2022 as decided by its governing council, prompting them to knock on the court’s door.
“The respondents are restored to their original appointment by the Director General without any interruption by cancellation. They shall be entitled to pay, allowances and all benefits without any interruption. The appeals are dismissed,” stated the order issued by the division bench comprising chief justice IP Mukerji and justice W Diengdoh on Tuesday.
“There was no reason to doubt the authenticity of a letter of appointment duly signed by the director general under the seal of NECTAR. The appointees had every reason to believe that the appointments were legally made through an authorised person,” it added.
Appointments of the four individuals – Rakesh Kumar Sarmah (chief coordinator (Technical), Simanta Das (chief radio technologist), Simon Phukan (senior administrative officer) and Ankit Shrivastava (software engineer) – were made in 2021, and the candidates had joined their respective posts and were drawing pay and allowances.
However, in October 2022, the director general cancelled the appointments, citing a directive from the governing council to scrap the recruitment process and initiate it afresh.
The court held that the cancellation of appointments was arbitrary and irregular, and that the director general had sufficient authority to make the appointments.
The court also noted that the governing council’s decision to cancel the appointments was at the behest of the secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and was not a valid exercise of power.
The court held that the director general had sufficient authority to make the appointments, and that the appointments were made through a valid selection process.
