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Court stays appointment of minerals body CMD

In a significant development, the Delhi high court on Wednesday restrained the central government from appointing S D Kapoor chairman-cum-managing director of the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation in view of serious allegations against him.

A division bench consisting of Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice M K Sharma stayed the appointment of Kapoor till further orders.

It directed the central government to produce before it the January 21 communication of the under secretary which stated that the appointments committee of the cabinet has approved the appointment of Kapoor as CMD of MMTC for a period of five years.

The bench, issuing a showcause notice to the ministry of personnel and training, ministry of commerce and S C Tripathy, finance secretary of Uttar Pradesh, also asked the government to place before it all relevant files related to Kapoor's appointment on the next date of hearing.

The respondents were asked to file their replies within one week and fixed February 12 as the next date of hearing.

The bench after hearing the arguments of counsel P K Bansal, appearing for petitioner Waria Rasheed Kidwai, said, ''Having regard to the fact and circumstances of the case, we restrained the government to appoint Kapoor to the post of CMD till further orders.''

Though the appointment of Kapoor has been cleared, he has not yet taken over as CMD, MMTC, as the formal order has not been issued so far.

Central government counsel Rakesh Tikku accepted the notice on behalf of the ministry of personnel and training and ministry of commerce.

The petitioner alleged that the post of CMD was sought to be filled after flouting all the known rules and practices followed in the service jurisprudence and smacks of ''utter bias, ultimate favouritism and ulterior motives.''

The appointment was made in an ''illegal manner,'' he added.

UNI