Cuttack: Orissa high court has come down heavily on Odisha State Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) for arbitrarily demoting an officer after more than 15 years in a higher post, restoring him as assistant director (management information system) with all service and financial benefits and imposing an ‘exemplary’ fine of Rs 1 lakh on the authority.A division bench of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Chittaranjan Dash, in a recent judgment considering the appeal filed by Pravat Kumar Mishra, set aside a single judge’s July 16, 2024, order, which upheld OSEPA’s decision to revert him to the post of programmer-cum-training officer. The bench also quashed OSEPA’s Dec 24, 2020, order of reversion and directed compliance within eight weeks.The HC ruled that Mishra, after being appointed as programmer-cum-training officer in 1998, was placed in charge of system analyst in 2005 and was absorbed in that post in 2006. The post was later re-designated as assistant director (MIS), where he served without any adverse record.Rejecting OSEPA’s stand that Mishra was ineligible because he lacked a valid MCA degree, the bench noted that the authority failed to show that an MCA qualification was prescribed either at the time of his selection or even subsequently.“Before reverting from the position, what one has to show is that there was a prescribed qualification for the post … and that the candidate lacked such qualification. Unless this Twin Test is satisfied, no employee can be reduced in rank by a stroke of pen,” the judges observed in the July 7 judgment.Taking exception to the authority’s conduct, the bench remarked, “A qualification not prescribed by law cannot be superimposed by some officials who have propensity to act as despots.” Holding that merely quashing the reversion order would not adequately redress the injustice, the court directed OSEPA to pay Mishra Rs 1 lakh as “exemplary cost”, observing that the amount may be recovered personally from the erring officers in accordance with law. It also cautioned that any delay in implementing the order would be viewed “very seriously” in future proceedings.The bench further held that officials had wrongly treated Mishra’s MCA certificate as “fictitious”, pointing out the distinction between a forged certificate and one issued by an institution that was not authorised to award the degree.“Such degrees are invalid. That does not mean fraud and fabrication, unless the candidate concerned too has an active role in all that. However, no such case is alleged, much less made out against the appellant,” the court said.
