The Karnataka High Court Tuesday stayed a Central government circular that debarred former Karnataka High Court judge Justice Padmaraj Nemachandra Desai from any government appointments for three years..Single-judge Justice R Devdas passed an interim order staying the circular issued on November 7 last year by the Union government’s Ministry of personnel, public grievance, and pensions.Justice Devdas stayed the circular till February 6 this year, the next date of hearing, after Senior Counsel Uday Holla, who appeared for Desai told the Court that the retired Karnataka High Court judge had not been granted a fair hearing and that the Union government had breached the principles of justice in issuing such debarment circular..In July 2024, the Central government had issued a notification appointing Desai as a judicial member of the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) bench at Hyderabad.However, at the time, Desai was already serving as the chairperson of a one-man judicial commission constituted by the Karnataka government to probe the alleged irregularities in allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), a case in which current Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is an accused..Senior Advocate Holla told the Court that on August 14, 2024, two weeks after Desai came to know of his appointment, he wrote to the President of India and the Government of India thanking them for selecting and appointing him. However, he also indicated that he had already accepted an assignment offered by Government of Karnataka and had assumed charge as the chairperson of the one-man commission. Holla told the Court that at the time, Desai informed the central authorities that his term at the judicial inquiry commission was for six months and therefore, he was constrained to decline the offer to be part of CAT the time being.“He asked them to postpone his appointment to CAT and said that he can join CAT after completing his present assignment. However, they simply issued a notification cancelling his appointment (as judicial member, CAT) and also issued a circular saying he was debarred from being appointed to any government positions for the next three years,” Holla told the Court.Holla further told the court that the circular wrongly mentioned that Desai had declined to join CAT on account of personal reasons..The Court also took note of the Senior Counsel’s submission that the Union government’s own rules mandate that after a candidate is selected as a judicial member, the appointing authorities must take the consent of such candidate before sending the proposal to the appointments committee cabinet of the government of India.“The learned senior counsel also submits that the Rules also provide that if a candidate has not joined within 30 days, the government must issue a notice calling upon the candidate to either join or to face debarment, thus, clearly spelling out the consequences of debarment. However, in the present case, no such consent of the candidate was taken and no hearing was granted before debarment. In view of the above, an ad interim stay is granted,” the High Court said.The Court issued notices to the Union government and said it will “hear and dispose of” the matter on February 6 this year.
