The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the operation of an order, issued by the Managing Director of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation, terminating a manager of the Corporation.
The petitioner, Pradip Kumar Gupta, through his lawyers Amar Vivek Aggarwal and Deepika Sood had contended that he had been appointed in the ex-serviceman category as Manager Grade-I in Corporation in 2010 after proper selection by the committee consisting of five officers including three IAS officers.
The services of Gupta were terminated by present MD of Corporation, Sanjeev Verma, on April 20, 2022, by alleging that the petitioner did not have 7 years experience in handling agricultural produce.
It was submitted by Gupta’s counsel that, the petitioner was an ex-serviceman having served in the Indian Air Force for 20 years and the condition of having experience of handling agricultural produce was relaxable in terms of Regulation 30 of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (Officers and Staff) Regulations, 1994. It was further contended by Gupta that, there has been an unseemly tussle between the two senior IAS Officers of Haryana, namely the then MD Ashok Khemka and current MD Sanjeev Verma, both of whom have lodged FIRs against each other.
The court was told that the current MD joined on April 8, and started inquiry in the selections made by Ashok Khemka in 2010 and as a fallout, the services of the petitioner were terminated on April 20, 2022.
The counsel submitted before the HC that Gupta is being made a scapegoat amid a tug of war between two officers.
The bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, after hearing the matter issued notice to the respondents, returnable for August 1, 2022.
The bench also ordered, “The operation of the impugned order dated April 20, 2022, shall remain stayed till the next date of
hearing.”
