New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has recently dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) plea seeking action to be taken against the “illegal posting” of IAS officer Aunjaneya Kumar Singh in Uttar Pradesh who has been on deputation since 2015 and its further extension.
Singh, who was the Rampur district magistrate (DM) from February 2019 to March 2021, was said to be instrumental in lodging cases against Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, The Indian Express had reported. Khan was booked for an alleged case of hate speech in 2019 when Singh was the Returning Officer in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The PIL said that Singh’s deputation and extension is illegal on the ground that it is contrary to the provisions of the All India Services Rules and Indian Administrative Service Cadre Rule.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora in its April 23 order said, “It is settled law that public interest litigation is not maintainable in service matters and that only the non-appointees can assail the legality of the appointment or extension of the successful candidate/officer”.
The bench then proceeded to dismiss the PIL as “not maintainable”.
The IAS officer was the Rampur district magistrate (DM) from February 2019 to March 2021 and later on was posted as the divisional commissioner of Moradabad.
However, in 2023 a Rampur court acquitted Khan, while noting that the complainant in the hate speech case was under pressure from Singh. Singh, while speaking to The Indian Express in May last year, denied the charge, saying there was “no bias” on his part.
