The High Court of Karnataka has said that the post of chairperson of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) cannot be occupied by officers holding the posts of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) or Principal Secretary (PS), Forest, Ecology and Environment, in ex officio capacity beyond six months whenever the post becomes vacant.
Also, the court termed as “illegal” the State government’s August 31 corrigendum, which resulted in abruptly ending the tenure of KSPCB’s incumbent chairperson Shanth A. Thimmaiah with retrospective effect from March 4, 2022, and made it clear that he has tenure up to November 14, 2024 as per the appointment order.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit delivered the verdict while disposing of petitions filed by Mr. Thimmaiah, who had questioned the legality of his removal from the post; and also a batch of PIL petitions, related to norms for appointing chairperson, members, and member-secretary to the KSPCB, through which the court had monitored framing of guidelines by the government for making nominations to these posts as per the law and the judgments of the apex court.
