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Lucknow, Jul 31 (PTI): The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday set aside a single-judge bench order quashing appointments of school principals made pursuant to the 2013 recruitment advertisement, thereby restoring the appointments finalised in 2022.

A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla allowed the special appeals filed by Shyam Shankar Upadhyay and others, as well as the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Services Selection Board, Prayagraj.

The recruitment process for the posts of principals had commenced with advertisement number three issued in 2013. However, the selection process remained pending for nearly nine years before appointments were finalised in 2022.

In its February 1, 2023 judgment, the single-judge bench had declared the entire selection process illegal and quashed the appointments.

The court had held that completing the recruitment process nearly nine years after the advertisement violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, as candidates who acquired the requisite qualifications after 2014 were deprived of an opportunity to compete because the recruitment exercise had remained stalled for years. The judge had also directed the authorities to conduct a fresh recruitment process in accordance with law.

The order was challenged through special appeals before the division bench.

During the pendency of the appeals in 2023, the bench ordered maintenance of status quo after observing that a large number of appointments would be affected and that the selected candidates had already been serving as principals since December 2022.

Delivering its verdict on Friday, the division bench allowed the appeals and set aside the single-judge judgment. As a result, the appointments made under the 2013 recruitment process will continue to remain valid. PTI COR NAV MNK MNK

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)