A legal notice has been served today on the Chief Secretary of Goa demanding that the appointment of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s relative Mr. Kurupati Dwarkanath Row as Chairman of the Goa Public Service Commission (GPSC) be immediately revoked. The Chief Secretary has been told that if the appointment of Kurupati Dwarkanath Row is not revoked by June 10 th, that the Bombay High Court at Goa would be moved for appropriate orders.
The appointment of Kurupati Dwarkanath Row as Chairman of GPSC is unconstitutional, illegal & void as the appointment was arbitrarily done with no system for selection, without any selection committee, with no criteria or evaluation and without any transparency. Documents obtained under the Right to Information Act has revealed that Kurupati Dwarkanath Row, a relative of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was appointed as Chairman of the GPSC solely on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, in a very arbitrary and malafide manner, to favour his own relative. As per the file notings a note was moved by the Personnel department at the Secretariat on 27th February this year that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had recommended and suggested the name of Mr. Kurapati Dwarakanath Row for the post of Chairman of Goa Public Service Commission. The note was approved by the Under Secretary, Additional Secretary, Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister on the same day. The proposal was also approved by the Cabinet meeting held on that very same day. The Chief Minister on the next day sent the file for the Governor’s approval. With Governor B. V. Wanchoo giving his approval on the very following day, the Personnel department swiftly issued the notification on 4 th March appointing Mr. Kurapati Dwarakanath Row as the Chairman of the Goa State Public Service Commission. Coincidentally 4th March was Kurapati Dwarakanath Row’s birthday. The records reveal that the Government did not consider any other name besides Kurapati Dwarakanath Row for the post of GPSC Chairman and that neither was a back ground check conducted on the antecedents of Mr. Kurapati Dwarakanath Row, a former staff of Air India. As per Article 316 (1) of the Constitution of India, the minimum requirement for the Chairman of GPSC is experience of ten years under the Govt of India or the State Govt. The experience of Kurupati Dwarkanath Row was with a Govt company Air India, and not experience under the State Govt or the Govt of India as was required. The appointment of Kurupati Dwarkanath Row as Chairman of GPSC was grossly malafide and a fraud on the Constitution of India. The selection was not an informed process of decision-making in as much as the State Government had not collected information and material on whether Kurupati Dwarkanath Row had the experience, ability and character to be appointed as the Chairman of GPSC while also not having considered other persons who would have qualified for the position. For extraneous considerations the appointment was made merely on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, while throwing to the wind all norms of law for the appointment to such a high Constitutional post of Chairman of GPSC. Various judgments of the Supreme Court have clearly laid down the parameters to be observed while selecting the Chairman of the Public Service Commission. Mr. Chief Minister, Good Governance is not about catering to family and friends only. The laid down rules and regulations have to be observed. The rule of law has to prevail. And above all it has to be Zero tolerance to Nepotism. Aires Rodrigues T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat Ribandar - Goa - 403006 Mobile: 9822684372