The Kerala High Court on Thursday issued notice to the State government and the State Pollution Control Board (PCB) on a writ petition challenging the appointment of A.B. Pradeep Kumar as chairman of the board.
The notice was issued by Justice Devan Ramachandran when the petition filed by K.S Govindan Nair, an aspirant and former member secretary of the board, against the selection came up for hearing.
The petitioner said that the application was invited in May 2020. In fact, the qualification prescribed for the post was a Masters Degree with specialisation in an environmental subject and 15 years’ experience in an establishment engaged in environmental protection. Besides, the applicants should not be aged above 60.
The petitioner had all the prescribed qualifications. He alleged that the selection committee had only called Mr. Pradeep Kumar for interview and selected him, while the petitioner and another aspirant, M.A. Baiju, chief environmental engineer, were left out. The action of the selection committee was against the principles of fairnes, equity and principle of natural justice.
The petitioner sought a directive to the selection committee to select the candidates and conduct an interview afresh from among the qualified applicants.
