Lucknow, Apr 15 The Allahabad High Court has declared a portion of Uttar Pradesh government's rules for drug inspector recruitment as unconstitutional, saying the state cannot impose additional qualifications when the Centre has already enacted a law on the subject.
A bench of justices Rajan Roy and Manjeev Shukla of the Lucknow bench of the high court passed the verdict on April 3 on a special appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission and a writ petition filed by candidates, while hearing them jointly.
The court struck down the additional experience requirements for the post of drug inspector under Rule 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration Department Gazetted Officers (Drugs) Service (Third Amendment) Rules, 2015.
The court said that the qualifications for this post were already prescribed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, made under it by the central government.
The bench clarified that the central law comprehensively covered this area and, therefore, rules made by the state government cannot conflict with it.
Citing the Doctrine of Occupied Fields, the court stated that only the central government had the authority to make rules on this subject.
However, the court refused to quash the previous recruitments.
It held that the selected candidates possessed the basic qualifications prescribed by the central government and had been in service for many years, so it would not be appropriate to remove them.
In its judgement, the court also directed that all future recruitments should adhere only to the qualifications prescribed by the central government.
The court further said that the petitioners who were not previously eligible to participate in the recruitment process would be given the opportunity to apply in the ongoing 2025 selection process.
