: Reacting to a petition by three ex-servicemen, the Allahabad High Court has asked the Central and the UP state government to clarify whether ex-servicemen can apply for civil posts while in service.){kind=link}
New Delhi (ILNS): Reacting to a petition by three ex-servicemen, the Allahabad High Court has asked the Central and the UP state government to clarify whether ex-servicemen can apply for civil posts while in service.
Justice Ajay Bhanot was hearing a plea filed by Sudhir Singh and two others through advocate Seemant Singh.
The petitioners had applied for the post of Village Development Officer under the Ex-Serviceman quota in 2016. They passed the exam and even got their appointment letters. They joined in February 2019. Later the commissioner issued an order dismissing them from the post. The reason given was that they had applied for the job while still in service.
In the hearing that followed, their pleas before the commissioner were dismissed in May 2019. The reason, again, was that they were serving in the Army on 5 October 2016, the last date for applying for the post of Village Development Officer. Their appointment was termed illegal on the grounds that they applied without retiring from their posts.
The petitioners also told the court that there are many orders of the army, according to which military personnel can apply for civil posts a year before retiring.
Meanwhile, the counsel on behalf of the state government said that army rules and orders would not apply to state governments.
The court has directed the Centre and the state to clarify the situation in this case, adding that the state government should not forget that this benefit is also given to the ex-serviceman so that he can join the mainstream society.
-ILNS