Change in social policy after change in govt part of democratic process, cannot be termed arbitrary: HC

Implementing new policies and plans after a change in government is a normal aspect of democracy and cannot be characterised as arbitrary or malicious, the Bombay High Court has said.

A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale refused to quash a December 2022 order passed by the current state government under Eknath Shinde, cancelling the appointment of chairman and members of the Maharashtra State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The bench in its order on Tuesday dismissed the petition filed by Ramhari Dagadu Shinde, Jagannath Motiram Abhyankar and Kishor Medhe, challenging the cancellation order. Abhyankar was the commission's chairman while the other two were its members. They were appointed in 2021 for a term of three years.

The petitioners claimed every time there is a change in government, changes are made in the administration to accommodate supporters of the ruling dispensation and this is against the principles of natural justice. The bench in its order noted the petitioners did not have any fundamental right to continue on the posts and hence the government order cancelling their appointment cannot be held arbitrary or discriminatory.

Bench noted the commission was neither statutory nor mandated by any provision of the Constitution and hence the appointment of the petitioners did not have any statutory basis. The petitioners were nominated at the sole discretion of the government without following any selection procedure or inviting applications from the general public, it said. Such an appointment has to be treated as one under the pleasure of the government. In fact, the existence of the commission itself is at the pleasure of the government, the HC said.

As per the petition, after Shinde and the new administration took over in June 2022, the government has cancelled appointments of as many as 197 presidents and non-official members appointed on 29 project level (planning review) committees in the tribal sub-plan projects. The petitioners complained that such an abrupt decision of cancellation of appointments was taken without affording an opportunity of hearing or assigning any reasons and was, therefore, in breach of the principles of natural justice.