The Karnataka High Court has rejected the petition of a 71-year-old retired chief engineer who sought to be appointed as the Chief Engineer at Rama Janma Bhumi Theertha Kshethra.

The Single Bench of Justice SG Pandit observed that the petitioner does not have any right to seek appointment as the Chief Engineer.

"…I am of the view that petitioner has no right to seek any appointment as Chief Engineer. Moreover, petitioners' request is to appoint him as Chief Engineer for a period of three years at Sri Rama Janma Bhumi Theertha Kshethra and Sri Rama Janma Bhumi Theertha Kshethra is not a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, writ should not be maintainable", the Court observed.

Advocate H.M. Umesh appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was a retired engineer in chief from Central Government. He also submitted that Petitioner had made representations which were rejected.

He further submitted that even his request through grievance redressal web portal was not considered properly and rejected.

On the contrary, Assistant Solicitor General, H.Shanthi Bhushan, opposed the petition by stating that the petitioner had no right to seek any appointment. He argued that Trust is not a state under Article 12 of the Indian Constitution.

The Court noted that for issuance of a writ of mandamus one has to establish his legal right and corresponding legal duty on the authority. The Court observed that the petitioner had no right and the respondent had no duty to consider his plea.

Accordingly, the petition was rejected.

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Karnataka High CourtJustice SG PanditWrit Petition

Ashish Shaji