DILEEPKUMAR Vs. GENERAL INSURANCE CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner in O.P. 10402 of 1992 is the appellant. He is working as an Agent in the United India Insurance Company Limited. The said Company is one of the subsidiary companies of the General Insurance Corporation of India. He joined service of the Company way back on 28-3-1985.

(2.) In the year 1989, the General Insurance Corporation of India issued Exhibit P1 notification inviting applications for recruitment to the post of Marketing Trainees. The recruitment was from open market. procedure for selection, as per the notification, consists of a written test, which will be i) Objective type covering Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Sales Aptitude, English Knowledge and Comprehension, General Insurance Awareness; and ii) Descriptive type on English. Those selected on the basis of the performance in the test are to be called for personal interview for final selection. Pursuant to the notification, petitioner submitted his application. A test was conducted on 25-6-1989. Interviews were conducted between 2-4-1990 and 27-4-1990.

(3.) The open market recruitment was not considered just and proper by Agents/ marketing Agents/Rural Representatives working in the Insurance Companies. They approached courts for recruitment of Marketing Trainees exclusively from among them. The Corporation, at its meeting held on 19-11-1990, approved reservation of 33 1/3% of the vacancies of the Marketing Trainees to be filled in exclusively from Agents/ Marketing Agents/Rural Representatives in the employment of Insurance Companies. Consequently on 10-12-1990, another notification was issued inviting applications for the post of Marketing Trainees from among the Agents/Rural Representatives/Marketing Agents. It has been specified in the notification that those who had appeared for the written test held on 25-6-1989 can also send their applications for recruitment. The Agents/Marketing Agents/Rural Representatives were not satisfied with the extent of reservation of 33 1/3% of posts in the cadre of Marketing Trainees, Thereupon the Corporation raised the quota for them to 50%. This necessitated the issue of another Circular. Petitioner submitted his application to the second notification also. Written test in terms of the latter specification of 50% was held on 17-11-1991. That test was followed by an interview as well. The result of the open market selection, for which written test was held on 25-6-1989, was not published earlier. After completion of the separate recruitment exercise for Insurance Agents/Marketing Agents/Rural Representatives, Corporation published select list of both the tests simultaneously on 31-7-1992. Petitioner was not included in the select list. It is the petitioners case that the selection of candidates, who find a place in the final list, is vitiated by extraneous and irrelevant considerations and the selection is not based on merit, business performance or experience gained by them as General Insurance Agents. It is contended that the selection does not reflect the respective merits of the candidates who were actually interviewed. On these averments, he has approached this Court for quashing the select list. Learned Single Judge, by judgment dated 19-11-1992, dismissed the Original Petition along with other similar petitions filed by others. Hence this appeal.