Himachal High Court quashes HIMUDA CEO appointment

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Court finds Vashisht ineligible under HIMUDA rules, directs fresh appointment process and consideration of senior officer Anjori Kapoor.

Shimla , September 4

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the appointment of Dr Surinder Kumar Vashisht as CEO-cum-Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA), holding that the appointment was contrary to the applicable recruitment rules.

A bench of Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua set aside the appointment order dated May 27, 2025, and directed the state government to fill the post afresh under the 2012 recruitment rules and the 2019 amendment.

The court directed the authorities to consider only eligible officers for the post and include petitioner Anjori Kapoor in the selection process. However, it ruled that Vashisht would not have to repay the financial benefits already received.

The case centered on the eligibility criteria for the CEO-cum-Secretary post. Both Kapoor and Vashisht belonged to HIMUDA’s engineering cadre. Kapoor was promoted as regular Chief Engineer (Civil) on December 9, 2022, while Vashisht was serving as a Superintending Engineer.

On February 1, 2023, Vashisht’s SE post was upgraded to Chief Engineer on a personal basis, and he was appointed to the upgraded post the following day.

The High Court observed that the upgradation was personal to Vashisht and did not create a second regular Chief Engineer post in HIMUDA. The post was required to revert to SE after his departure.

Under HIMUDA’s recruitment rules, the CEO-cum-Secretary can be appointed from among Chief Engineers (Civil) who have completed at least one year of regular service in the post.

The court found that Vashisht did not meet this requirement as his Chief Engineer position was a personal upgradation of the SE post. His appointment as CEO-cum-Secretary was therefore held to be against the rules.

The court further noted that HIMUDA had only one regular Chief Engineer post, which was held by Kapoor. However, the post was converted into Advisor (Policy and Strategy) on May 3, 2025, and Kapoor was appointed to the new position on May 27. Vashisht was appointed CEO-cum-Secretary on the same day.

The High Court observed that a junior and ineligible officer had been appointed as CEO while a new post was created for the senior officer. It held that Kapoor should not have been excluded from consideration for the CEO-cum-Secretary post.