Prayagraj, Dec 1 (IANS): The Allahabad High Court (HC) has said that the Uttar Pradesh Director of Higher Education, Brahmdev, is "not fit" to hold such a post.

The court pulled up the official for sitting on a file related to gratuity and death benefits of a deceased professor.

"This court prima facie finds that the officer is not fit to hold such post as he sat over the file for six months and when the date in contempt proceedings was nearing, he has forwarded the request to state for making payment," Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal said.

The judge made the observations after Brahmdev appeared in court and said he had filed an affidavit saying he could not process the file "due to his busy schedule".

The HC, on May 24, ordered payment of the benefits to petitioner Ajay Kumar Mudgal, the husband of deceased professor Nupur Sisodia Mudgal, within a maximum of 90 days. When this was not done, he moved to HC, which issued contempt notice to Brahmdev.

The official had moved the file on November 10.

"He (Brahmdev) sat on the file for six months and when the date in contempt proceedings was nearing, he has forwarded the request to state for making payment. This is a serious matter and senior officers of the state government, who are at the helm of affairs, need to re-introspect and find out the solution for dealing with such officers who are taking the institution so lightly and behaving in a very casual manner," the judge said.