Appoint IAS officer as CEO of Saibaba Sansthan, High Court tells State Government

Aurangabad, Nov 4: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to appoint an IAS officer as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Saibaba Sansthan and give ex gratia for Diwali to the eligible employees.

The direction was issued by the divisional bench comprising Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice R G Awachat today. The next date for hearing of the matter is November 23.

A public interest litigation (PIL) for new trustees was filed in the High Court by Uttamrao Shelke, a former trustee. The petitioner contented that the High Court and the Supreme Court have directed the government to appoint an IAS officer as the CEO of the Sansthan, nevertheless the CEO is not appointed. Bagate was appointed as the CEO but he was not an IAS officer on the day of his appointment. Thus, this is a clear contempt of the court. Therefore, a direct IAS officer should be appointed as the CEO of the Sansthan. The committee concerned will take a majority decision in this regard. If any of its member opposes the decision, his stand should be taken on the record but the majority taken decision should be final, HC clarified.

Adv Satish Talekar, Adv Pradnya Talekar and Adv Ajinkya Kale represented the petitioner while Adv D R Kale appeared on behalf of the government.