CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government suffered yet another jolt, when a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the nominations of all the 35 students to the engineering colleges in the State. While quashing the nominations, Justice R.P. Sethi and Justice S.S. Sudhalkar declared all the 35 seats as ‘vacant, and stated that the State Government could fill these on merit within two weeks, failing which they would become non-existent.
Heading the list of those shown the door is Pritesh Singh Maini, son of J.S. Maini, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Punjab, Beant Singh. His admission on a seat reserved for sports category invited severe observations of the Court which held that the judicial caesarean into the record of the respondents had revealed that the seat for Pritesh Maini was in fact and in essence obtained in the nomination category but was tried to be camouflaged in the sports category. The judges further held that the manner in which he applied was shrouded in mystery. In fact, the seat was specially carved and conditions tailored for Pritesh Maini.
The nominations are a blatant misuse of authority and speak volumes of favoritism and nepotism. The wards of MLAs, Ministers and senior bureaucrats were admitted even though some of them had not appeared in the combined entrance test.
On a plea by two of the respondents that they were eligible for admission even on merit, the Court asked the State Government to consider their case (on merit).
The judges while concluding ob- served that it was an acknowledged fact that courts cannot remain a silent spectator to the gross illegalities com- mitted by the executive.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 31, 1995
