Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—This writ petition is an offshoot of WP (C) No. 150/1997. The main grievance in the said writ petition related to alleged irregularities and illegalities committed by respondent No. 3 in the present writ petition who is respondent No. 7 in the earlier writ petition. It is unnecessary to go into the maze of factual controversies involved in the earlier writ petition and the present writ petition. Challenge is essentially to the appointment of Respondent No. 3-Ms Neera Yadav as Chief Secretary of Respondent No. 2 i.e. State of Uttar Pradesh. Interim prayer in the I.A. is to stay functioning of Respondent No. 3 in the said post.

2. It would suffice to note that from 10.1.1994 to 8.11.1995 respondent No. 3 was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (in short ‘Noida’). The then Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (in short the ‘CBI’) on 6.12.1995 wrote a letter to the then Cabinet Secretary, Government of India seeking sanction for registering a preliminary inquiry into certain allegations of corruption committed by the Respondent No. 3. The request was re-iterated by the then Director of CBI on 16.12.1996