NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed appointment of N K Khurana as the chairperson of National Commission for Homeopathy (NCH), who is six months shy of completing four-year term, finding that he did not meet the eligibility criteria and indicted AYUSH secretary for declaring Khurana eligible.
The appointment of Khurana, whose term was to end in July this year, was set aside by a single judge bench of the Karnataka HC but he continued in the post as the single judge’s decision was reversed by a division bench of the HC.
On the appeal filed by Amaragouda L Patil, an unsuccessful contender for the chairman’s post, a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan found Khurana said the then AYUSH secretary, without any material, had in 2021 misled the selection committee that Khurana had the required experience when in reality he did not.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Devadatt Kamat and lawyer Nishant Patil said Khurana did not fulfil the eligibility criteria of “not less than 20 years in the field of Homeopathy, out of which at least 10 years shall be as a leader (as head of the department or the head of an organization) in the area of healthcare delivery.”
After examining the documents relating to selection of candidates, three of whom were empaneled by the search committee including Amaragouda L Patil, the bench rejected Khurana’s claim that he was head of the department since 2008 and said, “It is plain and clear that he misrepresented his work experience for being considered for the coveted position of chairperson of the Commission.”
Criticizing the Union govt for deviating from the mandatory eligibility criteria to favour Khurana, the bench said his appointment as chairperson despite not having the requisite experience suffers from malice in law.
Writing the judgment, Justice Datta said, “We hasten to add that whenever appointment to a public office is sought to be made, irrespective of the nature of the office, the rules prescribing mandatory eligibility criteria must be applied in a strict manner; after all, every public appointment under Article 16 of the Constitution must be fair, non-arbitrary and reasonable. Tested on this touchstone, the appointment of the third respondent fails to pass muster.”
Ordering Khurana to step down from the post in a week, the time given to enable him complete pending assignment without taking policy decisions, the bench asked the government to initiate a fresh process for selection of chairperson for NCH. It said though the past financial benefits would not be recovered from Khurana, he would not be entitled to any future financial benefit for holding the post of chairperson for 42 months.
