The Karnataka High Court recently dismissed a petition calling for the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act 2022 to be declared unconstitutional, illegal, and void.
The government has validated the recruitment of 362 gazetted ‘probationers’ from the Karnataka Public Service Commission’s 2011 batch through the said Act.
In the case of Mohamed Arif Jameel vs State of Karnataka (Writ petition no. 6795 of 2022), a division bench of Honorable Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice S R Krishna Kumar said, “We are of the considered view that the entire Act would not become bad in law simply because the earlier selection was challenged in the High Court and was quashed and thereafter, the impugned Act has come into force.”
The facts of the case are that a Certiorari petition was filed in the high court to declare the impugned Act, The Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022, Dated 14.03.2022, as unconstitutional, illegal, and void.
The petitioner’s learned counsel submits that the entire selection process was previously challenged before this Court in W.P.Nos.13617-13627/2017 and related matters. It is alleged that the respondents enacted the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022 in order to overturn the High “Court’s” decision. The argument is that the enactment of the contested Act was an illegitimate exercise of power and, as such, was unconstitutional.
It continued, “The petitioner’s learned counsel has not been able to demonstrate any provision of the contested Act that is unconstitutional, illegal, or void. Given the foregoing, we see no reason to grant indulgence.”
Advocate Rahamathulla Kothwal, appearing for the petitioner, stated that the entire selection process had previously been challenged before the High Court in W.P.Nos.13617-13627/2017 and related matters. It is claimed that the respondents then enacted the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022 in order to overturn the High Court’s decision. The argument was that the enactment of the contested Act was a tainted exercise of power and thus illegal in law.
The plea also requested that the appointment orders issued on March 22, 2022, in accordance with the contested Act be set aside.
After reviewing the submission and records, the bench stated, “In terms of the writ petition’s consequential prayers, suffice it to say that the aggrieved parties have already approached the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal, where the cases are currently being heard. As a result, such reliefs do not need to be considered by this Court at this time. The writ petition is dismissed because it lacks merit.”
