Lucknow, The Allahabad High Court has ruled that third parties have no right to file special appeals in service-related disputes merely on the basis of apprehensions or indirect impact.
The Lucknow bench of the court has also clarified that only a person who is genuinely aggrieved and whose legal rights are directly affected can maintain such an appeal.
A bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Jaspreet Singh delivered the judgment on Friday, dismissing a special appeal filed by Neeraj Kumar Singh. The appeal had challenged an order of a single-judge bench that had reinstated an employee of the King George’s Medical University .
The KGMU employee’s service was terminated, but the single-judge bench of the court quashed the termination and ordered reinstatement on a writ petition filed by the employee.
Subsequently, Singh, another KGMU employee, filed a special appeal against the single-bench verdict, contending that the reinstatement was contrary to rules and would adversely affect his chances of promotion.
Rejecting the plea, the court observed that service disputes are essentially between the employer and the employee concerned, and a third party can intervene only if he can demonstrate a direct and tangible infringement of his legal rights. “Mere apprehension regarding promotional prospects cannot be treated as sufficient ground,” the bench noted.
It also underlined the importance of the doctrine of locus standi, stressing that it must be applied strictly in service jurisprudence to prevent unnecessary and unwarranted litigation. Allowing third parties to challenge service matters without concrete legal injury could disrupt judicial discipline and burden the system, the bench observed.
It further noted that the appellant was neither a party to the original proceedings nor able to establish any real legal harm. Therefore, he could not be categorised as an “aggrieved person” in the eyes of law.
On these grounds, the bench dismissed the special appeal as not maintainable.
However, it clarified that the employer institution KGMU is at liberty to challenge the single-bench order in accordance with law.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
