Meghalaya High Court upholds scientist appointments after government reversal

The Meghalaya High Court has dismissed appeals by the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) and restored four scientists to their positions after their appointments were controversially cancelled in 2022.

The court ruled that the cancellation of the appointments of Ankit Shrivastava, Simon Phukan, Simanta Das, and Rakesh Kumar Sarmah was "totally irregular and arbitrary" and violated principles of natural justice.

The case stemmed from a recruitment drive in July 2022 when NECTAR advertised various scientific positions including Chief Coordinator (Technical), Chief Radio Technologist, Senior Administrative Officer, and Software Engineer. All four candidates were selected through proper interviews and received appointment letters on November 23, 2021, from the Director General.

However, their careers took an unexpected turn when they received cancellation letters on October 7, 2022. The Director General cited a directive from the Governing Council to "scrap the recruitment process and initiate it afresh as early as possible," treating the original advertisement as "null and void."

The timeline reveals a complex bureaucratic reversal. The Executive Committee had approved the recruitments on February 21, 2022, followed by approval from all Governing Council members. At the 8th Governing Council meeting on April 18, 2022, the recruitment process received formal approval under agenda item 4A.

The controversy emerged when the Secretary of the Science and Technology department, who serves as Chairman of the Governing Council, could not attend the April meeting. At his instance, the matter was placed before him, leading to the 9th meeting on August 18, 2022, where the previous resolution was reversed.

Chief Justice I.P. Mukerji, delivering the judgment alongside Justice W. Diengdoh, emphasized that the Director General possessed sufficient authority to make the appointments under Rules 20 and 23 of NECTAR's bylaws.

"The Director General shall coordinate and exercise general supervision over all the activities of the Centre," the rules state, granting him authority to delegate powers for "effective and efficient functioning of the Centre."

The court noted that the appointees had "treated the Director General as acting under ostensible authority" and had every reason to believe their appointments were legitimate. "There was no reason to doubt the authenticity of a letter of appointment duly signed by the Director General under the seal of NECTAR," the judgment stated.

Justice Mukerji criticized the Secretary's intervention, noting that the Governing Council "should not have turned around at the 9th meeting and cancelled the appointments." He described the exercise of power as engineered "at the whim and caprice of the Secretary."

The court went beyond the single judge's original order, directing that the cancellation orders be treated as "non est" (as if they never existed). The scientists are now entitled to "pay, allowances and all benefits without any interruption."

The judgment highlighted the human cost of the bureaucratic reversal, noting that "many of the appointees had resigned from their previous employment" before joining NECTAR. The court observed that "the career of aspiring scientists has been jeopardised by this action."

NECTAR, established in 2012 as an autonomous society under the Department of Science and Technology, operates from Shillong with a sanction for 31 regular posts. The organisation focuses on technology applications and reach in the northeastern region.

The four scientists can now resume their positions with full benefits, ending a legal battle that began in 2022 when they first approached the High Court challenging their dismissals.