Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Apr 8: High Court has dismissed the plea challenging the advertisement notification issued by Public Service Commission (PSC) for the posts of Librarian and paved the way for the Commission to go for further process for filling up of the posts as the court observed that the decision already taken is no longer revisable.
The petition was moved by one seeking review of court decision passed in March 2020. An advertisement notification was issued by the respondents PSC inviting applications for 42 posts of Librarian. The maximum age prescribed for in-service candidates as on 01.01.2013 was prescribed by the Commission as 45 years. The petitioner-Suresh Kumar being in Government service in the Technical Education Department also applied for the said post.
However the said advertisement was withdrawn by the Commission vide order dated 29.09.2016 and a fresh advertisement notice was issued on 13.12.2016 and number of posts advertised was 67 as against 42 notified earlier and the age of in-service candidates was prescribed as 40 years as on 01.01.2016.
Since the petitioner was ineligible in terms of the notification dated 13.12.2016, he preferred a writ petition, which was dismissed by the writ court. Against the said judgment an appeal was preferred by the petitioner-Kumar, which too came to be dismissed vide judgement and order dated 18.03.2020.
The crux of the argument of the counsel for the petitioner in LPA was that after the first advertisement dated 16.12.2013 was withdrawn, the Education Department had written to the Public Service Commission on 23.08.2016 that the cut-off date for age criteria applied in response to the earlier notification be treated as 01.01.2013.
It was urged that even when the opinion of the Law Department was sought, the subsequent advertisement notification notice of 2016 was issued fixing the impugned eligibility condition, based whereupon the candidature of the petitioner was rejected, on the criteria of age.
Court while dismissing the plea finally said the communication addressed by the Education Department to the Public Service Commission would by itself not amount to creating a right in favour of a candidate nor would it be deemed to have altered the eligibility criteria fixed either in the advertisement notice or have the effect of altering the rules to that limited extent.
Counsel appearing on behalf of PSC on the other hand stated that while it was true that in the notification of 2018, the age for in-service candidates was prescribed as 45 years. He stated that it was an error, which was subsequently rectified by issuing the corrigendum dated 26.03.2021. He further submitted that the age of eligibility for in-service candidates have now been corrected to read as 40 years instead of 45 years.
“In view of the stand so taken, in our opinion, no case at all for interference with the judgment is made out. We find no error apparent on the face of record. The scope of powers exercisable by a court in its review jurisdiction is no longer revisable. For the reasons mentioned above, this review petition is found to be without any merit and is, accordingly, dismissed”, Justice D S Thakur and Justice Puneet Gupta concluded.
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