Principal Secy can’t override opinion of subject experts: High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that Punjab Principal Secretary, Education, lacks expertise to interfere and override the findings of subject experts in recruitment processes.

The assertion by the Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma came in a case where the Principal Secretary diverged from the conclusions reached by subject experts.

The matter was placed before the Bench after a Single Judge dismissed a petition for quashing revised result dated March 23, 2023. The petitioners before the Single Judge were also seeking direction to the state to re-conduct the examination for 534 posts of Punjabi Masters/Mistress following major discrepancies in the question paper and answer key.

The Bench said the Single Judge discussed the previous round of litigation and admitted its error by stating that the court in the first round had already interfered, resulting in the appointment of subject matter experts. The judge further observed that the process, under the circumstances, could not be permitted to stretch endlessly.

Upholding the Single Judge’s judgment dated May 11, 2023, the Bench asserted it did not find any infirmity. The court, at the same time, asserted it did not agree with the Single Judge decision on the issue that Principal Secretary, being Education Department’s top functionary, was free to draw a conclusion based upon opinions and feedbacks received and there was no need to seek the court’s prior permission.

The Bench also made it clear that the Principal Secretary exercised authority beyond her expertise by attempting to override specialised findings, while even the Supreme Court avoided interferingwith expert opinions.