Appointments against vacant posts in 3 wks, state govt tells HC

Ranchi: Jharkhand govt on Tuesday informed the high court that appointments to vacant constitutional posts in the state would be completed within the next three weeks.
The statement was made by the state govt before a division bench of Justices Rongon Mukhopadhyay and Deepak Roshan while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Advocates’ Association, Jharkhand high court.
The PIL was filed by the association after several posts in the state, including that of the Lokayukta, chief information commissioner, State Human Rights Commission chairman, and three information commissioners, have been lying vacant for a long time.
A similar PIL was also filed by one Raj Kumar in 2019 before the Jharkhand high court, seeking appointment of candidates against vacant constitutional posts. Both the petitions were tagged together and jointly taken up by the court.
Association secretary Navin Kumar and advocate Abhay Mishra informed the court that due to lack of appointment of chairpersons holding constitutional posts, work was being adversely affected in respective offices. The authorities conduct quasi-judicial responsibilities.
The court directed the govt to file a status report on the issue. The case would next come up for hearing on August 6.