Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 20 Dec: After a gap of nearly one and a half years, the Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam has reinstated four Executive Engineers whose services were terminated in June 2024 over a reservation-related dispute. The engineers, including Munish Karara, Muzammil Hasan and Sumit Anand from the 2005 batch along with Sarita from the 2007 batch, had been dismissed by the Nigam management following allegations of securing employment by improperly claiming reservation benefits in Uttarakhand.
The dismissal orders had been issued by Peyjal Nigam following an internal investigation, after which the Peyjal Nigam management had forwarded the matter to the Personnel Department for legal advice. Acting on the department’s directives and concluding that the explanations provided by the four engineers were unsatisfactory, the management had issued orders terminating their services. The aggrieved engineers subsequently challenged this decision in the Nainital High Court. After hearing both sides, the High Court ruled in favour of the engineers on humanitarian grounds, observing that dismissing employees after such a lengthy period of service was not justified.
The Peyjal Nigam management appealed the High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court upheld the decision of the High Court. Consequently, the management issued orders yesterday, reinstating the four Executive Engineers and assigning them postings in different cities. MD Peyjal Nigam Ranvir Singh Chauhan confirmed that the services have been restored in strict compliance with the orders issued by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
