Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 10: In a landmark judgment, Division Bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar today quashed the appointment of two Junior Engineers namely Rakesh Bakshi and Parvinder Singh.
This judgment was passed in a LPA filed by Harvinder Singh, who was aggrieved of his non-selection and selection of private respondents as JEs 14 years back.
The appellant filed SWP No. 2186/2001 before the Writ Court and one of the specific grounds taken in the petition was that private respondents on the cut-off date of the filing of the applications form viz. 31.07.1997, which was the date for determining eligibility, did not possess the requisite eligibility qualification.
After hearing Advocate Sudesh Sharma for the petitioner, DB observed, “the last date for filing the application form was 31.07.1997 and the same was the date for determining the eligibility of competing candidates. Respondents No. 3 and 4, admittedly, were not eligible on the cut-off date as their results in respect of their diploma were declared on 12.10.1997”, adding “private respondents are, admittedly, ineligible candidates and they were clubbed with eligible candidates. This approach of the SSRB is against the tenet and spirit of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India”.
“The ineligible candidates could not be subjected to selection process. The judgment passed in SWP No. 279/1999 would not bind the appellant-writ petitioner as he was not a party to the said writ petition and challenge to selection was not made on the basis of ineligibility”, the DB said, adding “in that case one ineligible candidate sought parity in the matter of selection with other ineligible candidates. In law and in view of the mandate contained in Article 14 and 16 eligible candidates constitute one class and ineligible candidates constitute a distinct and separate class. The clubbing of eligible and ineligible candidates and subjecting them to selection process would vitiate the entire selection process”.
With these observations, DB quashed the appointment of Rakesh Bakshi and Parvinder Singh and directed State respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for his appointment as Junior Engineer (Electrical) within a period of eight weeks from the date a copy of this order is served upon them.
“The appellant is to be treated within age, as on the date of initiation of selection process, he was within prescribed age limit”, the DB directed.
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