Team Herald

PANJIM: The Supreme Court has cleared the appointment of Neelkanth Reddy to the post of Chief Electrical Engineer in the State Electricity Department by vacating the interim stay granted by the High Court of Bombay at Goa. 

The HC had stayed Reddy’s appointment to the post of CEE stating that ‘prima facie government action does not appear to be fair’. 

The government in June 2017 had handed charge of CEE to Reddy in addition to his post of Superintendent Engineer (Electricity) and Additional Chief Engineer. Through its order, the government had relieved officiating CEE Laxmikant Kolvekar. 

Kolvekar had challenged Reddy’s appointment before the High Court pleading that the action is without justification and hence should be quashed and set aside.

A HC division bench comprising Justice F M Reis and Nutan Sardesai had stayed the order stating that ‘allowing the impugned order to continue would cause grave injustice to the petitioner’. 

Kolvekar, who is additional chief engineer, had informed the Court that he was appointed on officiating basis initially from July 2015 and after the services of the regular incumbent to such post came to be terminated, he was again appointed by order dated January 2, 2017, on the recommendation of the Local Departmental Promotion Committee to the post of CEE on officiating basis with effect from September 13, 2016.

The government had challenged the interim order of HC in the Supreme Court.