SHIMLA: Taking up a petition challenging the appointment of former chief secretary R D Dhiman as the chairman of the state Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) chairman, the Himachal Pradesh high court has issued a notice to the Sukhvinder Sigh govt and clarified that Dhiman’s selection would be subject to the final outcome of the petition.
The petition, moved by Rajeev Verma, former member of the state RERA, came up for hearing before the division bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Sushil Kukreja on Aug 20. The state govt had appointed Dhiman as RERA chief on June 25.
The petitioner submitted that the state govt appointed Dhiman by ignoring the order of preference of the selection committee headed by the Chief Justice, which also comprised principal secretaries of the housing and law departments.
Verma further stated that he was at serial No. 1 in the selection committee’s order of preference, and Dhiman was at No. 2. Therefore, the state govt made the appointment in violation of the Rules of the Himachal Pradesh Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017, the petitioner argued. The HC has posted the matter for the next hearing on Sept 15.
