Vijayawada: Granting interim relief to district consumer forum presidents and members to continue in their positions, a division bench of the high court directed the state govt on Wednesday to submit all records pertaining to the appointments. A single judge bench of the HC recently set aside the appointment of Chittoor, Kadapa, Nellore, and Guntur consumer forum presidents, and members of Kadapa and Tirupati districts after disposing of multiple petitions filed challenging their appointments.
Challenging the order, they moved individual appeal petitions seeking to reinstate them in their positions pending disposal of the petitions. The single judge, while setting aside the appointment to consumer forums, directed the govt to do background verification of the candidates selected by the select committee and appoint them based on merit after successful police verification.
Considering the appeal petitions, the HC division bench comprising Justices G Narendar and T Chandra Sekhar observed that these appointments have become political appointments and the decision of the select committee cannot be faulted as it consists of high court chief justice or a judge nominated by him, and IAS officers as members. However, the question to be answered is whether the appointment of candidates selected by the select committee should be made based on merit or not, said the court. Granting relief to the petitioners to continue in their respective positions, the high court posted the matter for further hearing to Dec 4.
