New Delhi: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday set aside last week’s order of the Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that quashed the appointment of Jaiteerth R. Joshi as Director General of BrahMos Aerospace. Joshi assumed office on 1 December 2024.
The HC ruling came in response to a defence ministry appeal against the CAT order of 29 December.
The CAT had quashed Joshi’s appointment on an appeal filed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) ‘Distinguished Scientist’ Sivasubramanyam Nambi Naidu, who was among the three candidates considered for the post of BrahMos chief.
His petition accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the DRDO of ignoring his seniority and experience by selecting Joshi.
As reported by ThePrint, government sources felt the order went beyond the remit of the case.
The CAT order directed the MoD and the DRDO to “reconsider the claim of the applicant Naidu for appointment to the post of DG BrahMos within four weeks from the date of receipt of this order”.
“Till a decision is taken on the appointment, as directed above, the respondents shall make an ‘incharge arrangement’, but not with the fifth respondent (Joshi).”
There is manifest arbitrariness in the decision of the respondents—MoD and DRDO—in appointing Joshi as the BrahMos director general, the CAT order observed.
Government sources argued that BrahMos Aerospace is a strategic unit and there is no rule that only the senior most becomes the BrahMos DG. They also alluded to past appointments in different spheres.
In its response to the CAT order, the MoD said that as per the advertisement, the selection process indicated that the desirous and eligible scientists were required to forward their applications in the prescribed proforma attached therewith and a panel of two members would scrutinise all applications received and screen out those who were not meeting the eligibility criteria, as advertised.
The panel—headed by Recruitment and Assessment Centre (RAC) Chairman, with other members being Director, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Visakhapatnam; Vice Chancellor, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) and Director General, HR, DRDO HQ—called for an interaction with the eligible candidates before finalising the panel of recommended candidates.
The screened-in candidates were interviewed by the selection committee under the chairmanship of RAC head on 22 October 2024. The panel, after conducting a discreet review on the profile of each of the eligible candidates and after interaction with the candidates, recommended three names to the Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D) secretary and DRDO chairman.
Thereafter, the DDR&D secretary and DRDO chairman considered the recommended names, and selected the candidate and passed orders on 22 November on file for appointment of Joshi as DG (BrahMos), New Delhi, on transfer from DRDL, Hyderabad.
It further said that the DRDO chairman, being head of service, is competent authority as per Rule 10 of DRDS Rules, 2023 to deploy any senior scientist as DG even without issuing advertisement or following the aforesaid selection process.
However, the aforesaid selection process is generally followed to select the eligible, willing and most suitable senior scientist for appointment as Director General of the respective cluster/establishment, it had said.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)