Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Nov 1: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has issued notice to all the selectees and Fire and Emergency Department to the plea filed by the non-selectee candidates and declared the recent selection and appointments of fireman and fireman driver in the department as temporary.
The member of the CAT Rakesh Sagar Jain after hearing the advocate A M Dar on behalf of non-selectee candidates issued notice to all the selectees and the department also for filing of counter affidavit to the contentions raised by the aggrieved candidates with regard to selection list.
Dar argued before the bench that the authorities have laid down the criteria for appointment of the posts which was fixed to give undue benefits to certain persons and accorded benefit of time lapse to the candidates in terms of their qualifying age which the said authority was not having competence to issue such notice.
CAT bench after hearing the counsel, in the meantime as an interim relief for the petitioners-aggrieved candidates put the selection list as also the appointments made therein subject to outcome of the case. The petition has been filed about 260 aggrieved candidates challenging the selection list issued on October 3 and also the appointment order issued on October 4.
“The applicants admittedly possessed higher qualification than some of the selected candidates figuring at serial no. 1, 5, 6, 213, 277, 313 in the open merit list and S. no. 103 in RBA category list, who are either 8th , 10th , 12th pass but have secured higher marks in the open merit”, read the order.
It was further argued that in order to give undue benefit to the selectees, the question paper was leaked either one day before the schedule or quite early in the morning via the medium of Whatsapp so the selection list under challenge is one of the grounds.
Bench has also been informed that some selectees as shown in the select list are either underage or overage and therefore, could not have been selected. The case of the aggrieved applicants is also that some of the persons appointed have relatives working in the Fire & Emergency Department which divulges as to how the officials have selected their ‘favourites’.
It is also averred that selection list has been issued in violation of the principles as the officials while making the selection has brushed aside the higher qualification of the applicants and selected the appointees who possessed low educational qualification.
“Hence the present petition seeking quashing of impugned selection list and appointment order and the interim relief for staying the operation of both till disposal of the petition”, the bench mentioned.
The selection list issued by the department showed 98 posts of drivers and 598 posts of fireman and the aspirants from Jammu province have alleged that even less than 10 percent candidates have been selected and remaining 90 percent are from Kashmir province in both lists.
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