In a major setback to the Akhilesh Yadav government in the state, the Allahabad High Court (HC) on Wednesday ordered the removal of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) chief Anil Yadav. Soon after the order, the state government removed him from the post, which he had held since April 2013.
A two-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, while hearing a public suit by the Bhrashtachar Mukti Morcha, said there were a number of questions surrounding Yadav's appointment and that he was unfit to remain in the job.
Anil Yadav, who was principal of Sri Chitragupta PG college in Mainpuri, has been close to the Mulayam Singh Yadav family and was earlier appointed a member of the UPPSC in 2006.
His tenure was marred by allegations of openly siding, promoting and patronizing Yadavs during the selection process of various posts in the state.
There were agitations in many parts of the state by students against Anil Yadav's work style and police had to resort to cane charge on many instances in Allahabad to disperse angry mobs.
Yadav also courted controversy when the paper of the PCS-Pre exams of 2015 was leaked. An RTI query was earlier filed before the HC seeking to know the qualifications of Anil Yadav but the state government soft-pedalled the issue.
Miffed at the muted response of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government, the Allahabad HC had earlier given enough hints that Anil Yadav's continuance was untenable.
The government still did not act, forcing the HC to finally crack the whip on Wednesday.
Welcoming the court's decision, the BJP, which had been actively opposing the appointment, said the court had taken a right step.
Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that it was time for Akhilesh Yadav to answer now and clarify how the appointment of several people by UPPCS can now be held legal when its own chief's appointment has been quashed by the high court.
"Time and again it is being proved that Samajwadi Party (SP) government is presiding over nepotism, corruption and inefficient in procedures of appointment at highest level," the BJP leader told IANS.
