No order to the detriment of a person can be passed without complying with the rules of natural justice, including the right to be heard.

( 1 ) THESE nineteen writ petitions are knit together by reason of common questions of law and facts being involved therein and therefore, they were taken up together being amenable to common hearing and disposal.

( 2 ) THE facts beyond the pale of controversy are that petitioners herein were appointed in a special recruitment drive launched by the State Government to fill up the quota reserved for s. C. /s. T. candidates in various circles/divisions of the U. P. Jal Nigam. The vacancies were duly advertised in Hindi Dailies of wide circulation and appointments were made on the basis of recommendations made by duly constituted Selection Committees. the selected candidates joined their duties but subsequently, the appointment came to be rescinded by order of the Chief engineer, U. P. Jal Nigam, Lucknow.

( 3 ) I have heard Saryshri Bhagwati Prasad, K. C. Sinha and S. M. A. Kazmi in support of their respective petitions and Smt. Poonam Srivastava in opposition thereto.

( 4 ) THE order cancelling the appointments are sought to be quashed inter alia on the ground of violation of audi alterant rule of natural justice and also on the ground of arbitrariness and absence of reason. In support of the impugned orders, it was canvassed by Smt. Poonam srivastava that in the facts-situation of the present case, no opportunity was required to be given in that the appointments were made despite stay by superior authority i. e. the Chief Engineer, u. P. Jal Nigam, Lucknow. It was also propounded by Smt. Poonam Srivastava that so far as allahabad Circle is concerned, the Superintending Engineer was stripped of the power to make appointments and the same was given to the General Manager. This has been refuted by the petitioners.

( 5 ) HAVING heard the Counsel for the parties, I veer round to the view that these petitions commend themselves to be allowed on the ground of that the impugned orders of termination/cancellation of appointments having been passed sans any opportunity of hearing being accorded to the petitioners. The point receives reinforcement from the decisions of the supreme Court in Basudev Tiwari, JT 1998 (6) SC 464; Shridhar v. Nagar Palika, Jaunpur, AIR 1990 SC 307; Shrawan Kumar Jha v. State of Bihar, 1991 Supp. (1) SCC 330 and a decision of this Court in Rais Ahmad v. State of U. P. and Ors. , (1988) 2 UPLBEC 1232.

( 6 ) IN Basudev Tiwari (supra), the appointment of the appellant therein on the post of lecturer was terminated on the ground that on the relevant date the Syndicate had no power to make appointment of the lecturer and therefore, his appointment was not lawful. No opportunity was afforded to the appellant therein before terminating his appointment. The writ petition challenging the order of termination came to be dismissed by the High Court. Reliance was palced on Section 35 (3) of the Bihar Universities Act, 1970 which enabled termination "at anytime without notice" of any appointment or promotion "made contrary to the provisions of the Act, Statutes or in any irregular or unauthorised manner. " The Supreme Court after noticing its earlier decisions in Delhi Transport Corporation v. D. T. C. Mazdoor Congress, JT 1990 (3) SC 725; Mohmder Singh Gill and Ors. v. The Chief Election Commission and Ors. , AIR 1978 SC 851; and S. K. Kapoor v. Jagmohan and Ors. , AIR 1981 SC 136, allowed the appeal and set aside the order passed by the High Court holding inter alia as under:

"12. The said provisions provides that an appointment could be terminated at any time without notice if the same had been made contrary to the provisions of the Act, Statutes, rules or regulations or in any irregular or unauthorised manner. The condition precedent for exercise of this power is that an appointment had been made contrary to Act, Rules, Statutes and regulations or otherwise. In order to arrive at a conclusion that an appointment is contrary to the provisions of the Act, statues, rules or regulations etc. a finding has to