Uttarakhand HC dismisses petition challenging reservation of CDO post for IAS, PCS officers

DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand High Court upheld the December 23, 2019, order of the Uttarakhand Public Service Tribunal, which validated the promotion of two officers from the training cadre to the position of deputy commissioner.

Additionally, the court dismissed a petition challenging the state's 2013 decision to reserve the chief development officer positions in 10 districts for IAS and PCS cadre officers.A bench comprising Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Subhash Upadhyay heard the petition filed by Bharat Chandra Bhatt and others from the Provincial Development Service (PDS).The petitioners challenged the October 3, 2013, govt order that reserved 10 chief development officer (CDO) positions for PCS/IAS officers. The court refused to consider this aspect, stating it is a matter of policy decision.The HC dismissed the petition, upheld the Public Service Tribunal's order, and deemed the promotion of the training cadre officers valid. The petitioners were given the liberty to challenge the govt order in separate proceedings.