Uttarakhand HC scraps appointment of power corp MD

Dehradun: Uttarakhand HC has set aside the appointment of the managing director of Power Transmission Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (PTCUL), holding that the mandatory educational qualification under Selection and Appointment of Managing Directors and Directors in the Three Corporations Rules, 2021, was not shown to have been complied with, reports Gaurav Talwar.

A division bench of Justices Ashish Naithani and Subhash Upadhyay allowed three petitions, including a PIL, challenging the appointment of Prakash Chandra Dhyani as MD, and the court delivered its verdict on Wednesday.

The dispute centred on Rule 9A, which, after the 2021 amendment, requires possession of an engineering degree for the post. Petitioners argued that eligibility conditions under statutory rules could not be diluted through executive discretion, and any determination of "equivalence" must be based on objective material and recorded before appointment.

"A graduate degree in engineering is an essential qualification for the MD of PTCUL. HC has set aside the appointment of Prakash Chandra Dhyani as MD of PTCUL and directed state govt to make an interim arrangement for the post until a regular selection is made in accordance with the rules," said Kartikey Hari Gupta, the petitioner's lawyer.

Dhyani was appointed as the managing director in Sept 2022.

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