Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:75 Court No. - 6 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 9071 of 2024 Petitioner :- Amar Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy./Prin. Secy.

Administration Deptt. Lko. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Gaurav Mehrotra,Akber Ahmad,Alina Masoodi,Ravindra Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.

Hon'ble Alok Mathur,J.

1. Heard Sri Akbar Ahmad, learned counsel for the petitioner, and Sri Neeraj Tripathi, learned Standing Counsel for the State respondents. The court has perused the material available on record.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner had previously filed a writ petition before the Allahabad High Court, being Writ-A No. 11040 of 2020, which was allowed by the judgment and order dated 21st August 2023. In said judgment, the punishment order was set aside. The State Government preferred a special appeal, being Special Appeal No. 135 of 2024, against the judgment of the learned Single Judge. The appeal was allowed solely on the ground of territorial jurisdiction, resulting in the setting aside of the learned Single Judge's judgment dated 21st August 2023. Consequently, the petitioner was granted liberty to file a writ petition before the Lucknow Bench of this Court. Pursuant to this liberty, the present writ petition has been filed challenging the termination order dated 7th September 2020 passed by respondent no. 2.

3. The petitioner, who was serving as Additional Private Secretary in the State Secretariat of Uttar Pradesh, has sought the issuance of a writ of certiorari to quash the order dated 7th September

2020, passed by respondent no. 2, terminating his services.

4. The facts of the case, in brief, are as follows: The petitioner, acting as an administrator of a WhatsApp group linked to his mobile number 9454410505, allegedly received a message on July 6, 2018, stating:

"UGC के नि(cid:4)यम से ओबीसी और दलि(cid:15)तों के लि(cid:15)ए दरवाजे निब(cid:15)कु (cid:15) बन्द हो चुके ह।ैैं रामराज्य में CM ठाकु र अजय िሺसह योगी और DyCM पंडि’त निद(cid:4)ेश शमा) (cid:4)े जाडितवाद खत्म करते हुए गोरखपुर निव्ቫनिव्ቕा(cid:15)य में 71 में 52 अप(cid:4)ी

जाडित को सहायक ्ቚोफे सर ब(cid:4)ाया।"

"As per UGC regulations, opportunities for the OBC and Scheduled Caste communities have effectively been closed. In this era of Ramrajya, Chief Minister Thakur Ajay Singh Yogi and Deputy Chief Minister Pandit Dinesh Sharma, while purportedly eradicating casteism, have appointed 52 individuals from their own caste as Assistant Professors out of a total of 71 positions in Gorakhpur University."

(The above is the English translation of the original text, provided by the Court.)

5. The message was deemed objectionable and critical of the State Government. The petitioner attempted to delete the message but inadvertently pressed the 'forward' button, resulting in the message being shared with the WhatsApp group. Upon realizing the error, the petitioner requested the group members to delete the message. Although no complaint was lodged with the State Government by any group member, the petitioner voluntarily expressed regret through a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh on July 9, 2018, which stated:

" सेवा में

मुख्य सडिचव, उ० ्ቚ० शास(cid:4)।

महोदय, सादर नि(cid:4)वेद(cid:4) सनिहत अवगत कराया जा(cid:4)ा है निक निद(cid:4)ांक 06.07.2018 को मेरे मोबाइ(cid:15) (cid:4)ं० - 9454410505 पर एक आपलि5ज(cid:4)क संदेश जो निक सरकार की आ(cid:15)ोच(cid:4)ा से सम्ब቏ኌन्9त था ्ቚा्቎ हुआ था। इस संदेश को आपलि5ज(cid:4)क मा(cid:4)ते हुए मेरे ्ቛारा उ्ሹ संदेश को डि’लि(cid:15)ट कर(cid:4)े का ्ቚयास निकया गया, (cid:15)ेनिक(cid:4) ्ቔुनिटवश यह संदेश डि’लि(cid:15)ट (cid:4) हो कर ग(cid:15)त स्था(cid:4) पर टच हो जा(cid:4)े के कारण ्ቮाट्सअप ्ቇुप पर ्ቚसारिरत हो गया, जिजसे मै(cid:4)े सम्ब቏ኌन्9तों को व्यनि्ሹगत अ(cid:4)रु ो9 पर उ्ሹ संदेश डि’लि(cid:15)ट कर(cid:4)े का अ(cid:4)ुरो9 निकया ह।ै

उपय)्ሹु कृ त्य मुझसे गरै इरादत(cid:4) घनिटत हो गया है इसके लि(cid:15)ए मैं हाቖኌदक रूप से खेद व्य्ሹ कर रहा हूँ एव म ैं आ्ቫस्त हूँ निक इ