Lucknow, Jun 3 A petition has been filed in the Allahabad High Court against the appointment of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Principal Secretary Pradeep Kumar Dubey and his continuation in the office beyond the prescribed retirement age.
The matter came up before Justice Jaspreet Singh, who recused himself from hearing the case, and directed that it be placed before another bench.
The Lucknow bench of the court ordered that the petition be listed after fresh nomination by the Chief Justice or the concerned senior judge.
The petition was filed by Karmesh Pratap Singh, a former Information Officer to the Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
The petitioner has questioned the legal authority with which Dubey continues to hold the office of Principal Secretary.
The plea alleges that Dubey's appointment in 2009 violated the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Secretariat (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1974, which prescribed an upper age limit of 52 years for appointment to select-category posts.
According to the petition, Dubey had already crossed the age limit when he was appointed.
The petitioner has sought the court’s directions requiring Dubey to establish the legal authority under which he continues to hold the post, and has also requested an interim order restraining him from exercising the powers of the office pending adjudication of the case.
The plea states that Dubey took voluntary retirement from the Uttar Pradesh Judicial Service on January 13, 2009, and was appointed Principal Secretary (Parliamentary Affairs) on the same day.
Six days later, he was given charge of the post of Principal Secretary of the Assembly Secretariat.
The petitioner alleged that the appointment process was carried out without advertisement, competitive selection, consultation with the Public Service Commission or approvals required under Article 187 of the Constitution.
The petition further claimed that amendments made to the Assembly Secretariat service rules during 2010-11 were never placed before the House but were subsequently used to grant Dubey repeated extensions of service. The plea also alleged that a mechanism termed "service transfer" was introduced in 2011, despite there being no such provision in the service rules, and that it was used to regularise Dubey’s position.
According to the plea, Dubey retired on April 30, 2019, at the age of 62. It contended that a notification issued on March 17, 2020, increasing the retirement age to 65 years, could not have been applied retrospectively to him.
Despite this, Dubey continued to function as the Principal Secretary and is now over 68 years old, the petitioner alleged.
The petition also claimed that information sought under the Right to Information Act did not reveal any valid appointment order, service extension order, recommendation of a departmental promotion committee or consultation record with the Public Service Commission.
It stated that appellate authorities recorded that the requested documents were not available in official records.
The plea additionally raised allegations of financial irregularities linked to the Assembly Secretariat Cooperative Society, alleging irregular loans worth crores of rupees and other financial improprieties.
The petition claimed that complaints were submitted to several constitutional authorities, including the President's Secretariat, the Prime Minister's Office and the Governor's Secretariat, but no effective action was taken.
The allegations in the petition have not been adjudicated by the court.
