BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court directed the state government to appoint three appellants to the post of work inspector within two months. In the event of an amendment to the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Common Recruitment of Officers and Employees) Rules, 2011, abolishing the cadre of work inspector, the government may merge the appellants’ posts to an equivalent cadre, the court added.
A division bench of Justice DK Singh and Justice S Rachaiah passed the order recently, allowing the appeal filed by Harish Kumar HP from Ramanagara district and two other candidates questioning the single judge’s order dated February 24, 2025.
At first, the appellants moved the High Court by filing a writ petition as the state declined to appoint them after their names were announced in the selection list in 2017 by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), saying the posts had been abolished. However, the single judge rejected their plea by way of the impugned order against which they filed the appeal.
“We are of the opinion that vide government order dated January 5, 2021, the cadre of work inspector under the 2011 Rules cannot be abolished unless there is a necessary amendment to that effect in the statutory rules. The said government order is a mere policy decision that must be given effect by amending the rules. Unless the rules are amended, the cadre of Work Inspectors continues to exist.
Therefore, we reject the contention of the Additional Advocate General that the government is empowered to abolish the post/cadre by taking an executive decision and there is no requirement or necessity of amending the statutory rules to that effect”, the division bench noted.
The petitioners have filed the petition seeking to quash the endorsement dated November 4, 2021, issued by the Director of the Department of Municipal Administration, rejecting their request to appoint them to the post of Work Inspector in pursuance of the selection held by the KPSC.