Interim relief to retired Judge probing MUDA case
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Interim relief to retired Judge probing MUDA case

January 30, 2025

Centre’s order had debarred Justice P.N. Desai from Government appointments for 3 years

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has issued an interim stay on a November 2024 order by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions that barred Justice Padmaraj Nemachandra Desai, who had retired from the Court, from taking up Government appointments for three years.

“There shall be an ad-interim order of stay of the impugned order, till the next hearing date,” the High Court said. Justice P.N. Desai has been appointed by the State Government as the One-Man Commission of Inquiry, to probe the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) sites scam, involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others.

On Tuesday, a Bench of Justice R. Devdas issued an interim stay on the Union Ministry’s order until the next hearing date in the matter, Feb. 6.

Senior advocate Udaya Holla, representing Justice Desai, argued that the retired Judge had made a communication on Aug. 14, 2024, to the effect that he thanked the Government for his appointment as a Member of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) but he could not take up the role as he had already accepted the assignment of the Karnataka Government.

Instead of considering the same, the Central Government has barred P.N. Desai. Referring to an office memorandum of the authority dated 2009, it was informed that consent of selected candidates should be obtained before sending the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) proposal to the Secretariat of the Appointments Committee of the Government of India.

Further, it provides that if the candidate does not join within 30 days, the administrative department should issue a 15-day notice, calling upon the candidate either to join or face debarment clearly spelling out the consequence of debarment.

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It was contended that neither the consent was obtained nor a notice was issued to the petitioner before passing the impugned order by the department. Following this, the High Court passed the interim order and orally indicated that on the next date of hearing it would finally decide the petition.

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