Statutory procedures for appointment must be strictly followed; non-adherence renders any resultant appointment illegal.

JUDGMENT

Meenakshi Madan Rai, J. - The Petitioner assails the appointment of the Respondent No.4 as Chairperson of the State Pollution Control Board (hereinafter, 'the Board'), vide Notification No.27/Home/ 2020, dated 17-04-2020, on grounds that the Committee which conducted the interview was per se illegal being in violation of Rule 12 of the Sikkim Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Rules, 2017 (hereinafter, 2017 Rules'). The prayers being pressed in the instant Writ Petition are for issuance of an Order/declaration that the Selection Committee constituted for selection of the Chairperson by the interview dated 15-03-2020 is illegal and to issue an Order quashing the Notification dated 17-04- 2020, as obtains in prayers 'd' and 'e' of the Writ Petition.

(ii) The Petitioner's case briefly, is that, the Respondent Nos.1 and 2 constituted the Board as per the mandate of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (hereinafter, 1974 Act') and the Sikkim Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1991 (hereinafter, 1991 Rules') of which, since inception the Chairperson and Members were nominated by the Respondent No.2. Departing from established procedure, on 04-06-2019 the Respondent No.2 issued an advertisement for the post of Chairperson of the said Board. Six applicants including the Petitioner and the Respondent No.4 applied and participated in the interview which was held on 15-03-2020 conducted by a Selection Committee comprising of the Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim; the Principal Chief Conservator-cum-Principal Secretary, Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management Department; a Professor of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Special Secretary, Department of Personnel (for short, 'DOP'), Government of Sikkim. The Respondent No.4 was selected. Aggrieved thereof, the Petitioner approached the State Information Officer in the Office of the Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim, under the Right to Information Act, 2005. On receipt of incomplete information from the said Office, the Petitioner was before the Appellate Authority, from where he learnt from the documents supplied to him that as per Rule 12 of the Sikkim Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Rules, 2016 (hereinafter, 2016 Rules'), the Chairperson and the Member Secretary were to be appointed by a Committee, to be chaired by the Chairperson of the Sikkim Public Service Commission and was to comprise of; the Chief Secretary; the Secretary, Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management Department and the Secretary, DOP as also a National Expert of Environment Protection, to be nominated by the State Government. By an amendment to the Rules vide Notification dated 30-10-2017 the Committee was to be chaired by the Chief Secretary with the Secretary, Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management Department; the Secretary, DOP and a National Expert on Environment Protection nominated by the State Government as Members. That, in the teeth of the mandate of Rule 12 of the 2017 Rules, the Selection Committee constituted for the interview held on 15-03-2020 comprised inter alia of the Special Secretary, DOP, hence the prayers inter alia in the Petition as reflected hereinabove.

2. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner advancing his arguments contended that the presence of the Special Secretary, DOP as a Member of the Committee, instead of the Secretary, DOP as mandated by the Rules, has created a legal infirmity in the constitution of the Selection Committee, which