Delhi High Court issues notice to Centre over plea questioning repeated extension of Ayush Ministry secretary

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Union government on a plea challenging appointment and repeated extension of Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha as Ayush Ministry's Secretary, since October, 2017 till date, without any recruitment notification, or adhering to guidelines or rules allowing for a layman to be appointed to this high decision-making post.

Kotecha was private practitioner at Chakarpani Ayurveda Clinic at Jaipur before his initial appointment as special secretary.

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Tushar Rao Gedela sought a counter affidavit within four weeks from the Union government, after hearing senior advocate Devadatt Kamat and advocate Nishanth Patil on behalf of petitioner Dr Ved Prakash Tyagi.

Petitioner's counsel contended though there was no advertisement, it would appear that the appointment by Kotecha was by lateral entry.

Within 04 months, he was appointed as Secretary on October 11, 2017. He is neither an officer of the Indian Administrative Services nor he is retired senior officer and even does not he have any special administrative expertise warranting his appointment as Secretary of the Ministry of AYUSH, a key and top level post which was earlier headed by an IAS officer prior to his appointment in 2017.

The plea said as per Government of India guidelines, normally, lateral entry is for a period of three years extendable to a period of five years to the highest level of Joint Secretary. However, in the case of Kotecha, he has been extended indefinitely for the last eight years. The latest extension was by an order on June 18, 2024 and for a period of one year.

"Such indefinite extensions are unlawful and illegal having no foundational basis. At the time of his initial appointment in 2017, he was a private practitioner at Chakarpani Ayurveda Clinic at Jaipur," the plea said.

It made the challenge to the appointment on the ground that an appointment to a public post, especially one which is at such a high-level, ought to follow the cardinal principles of transparency and fairness.

"But such principles have not been followed at any stage for the appointment of the private respondent. The recruiting authority for lateral entry appointments i.e., the Union Public Services Commission, has been left out of the appointments process," it said.

The roster system which governs appointments and reservations has been completely upset by the recruitment, it added.

The plea pointed out Secretary, Ministry of Ayush played an important role in the policy decisions and appointments in many autonomous and statutory bodies including under the National Commission for Indian System of Medicines Act, 2020 as well as the National Commission for Homoeopathy Act, 2020.

"When the role is so important, it is essential that the person who is appointed as Secretary, goes through a rigorous process and the most meritorious person is selected for the job. Merit has been given a complete go-by in the selection process of the private respondent," the plea filed through advocates M V Mukunda, Ayush P Shah, Arijit Dey stated.