ANIL GEORGE Vs. STATE OF KERALA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The original petitions arise from a common order of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No. 1607 of 2014 and O.A. No. 404 of 2015. The petitioners in these O.P.(KAT) are the applicants before the Tribunal. The applicants are persons included in Annexure A1 ranked list prepared by the Kerala Public Service Commission for appointment to the post of High School Assistant Malayalam for Kollam District. The list came into force with effect from 27.01.2011. O.A. No. 404 of 2015 was filed contending that 11 additional posts of H.S.A Malayalam were sanctioned in the Kollam district consequent on the staff fixation for the academic year 2014 -2015. Four of such posts are to be set apart for direct recruitment through Kerala Public Service Commission in terms of the orders governing appointment to the post. Four vacancies of H.S.A. Malayalam were reported to the Kerala Public Service Commission in August 2014. It was the case of the petitioners/applicants that two of such vacancies were retirement vacancies and the other two are newly created vacancies on account of staff fixation. Since no advice was made against the vacancies reported and pending before it by the Kerala Public Service Commission, the applicant in O.A. No. 404 of 2015 had approached the Tribunal seeking the following reliefs: - -

(2.) They had also produced Annexure A4 communication issued by the Deputy Director of Education, Kollam stating that out of the vacancies reported to the Kerala Public Service Commission, two vacancies are additional vacancies and advice against the same need be made only after obtaining orders of approval from the Director of Public Instruction. In reply to an application made by the candidate under the Right to Information Act, the third respondent by Annexure A6 had admitted that 11 new posts of HSA Malayalam had been created in Kollam district in the staff fixation for the year 2014 -2015 and that no sanction had been obtained for the new posts from the Government.

(3.) The third respondent had filed the reply statement before the Tribunal inter alia contending that four vacancies of HSA Malayalam have been reported to the Kerala Public Service Commission on 05.08.2014. It is further stated that even the reported vacancies were reduced after the staff fixation and only one vacancy is existing in the cadre for appointment from the ranked list. The Deputy Director contended that the cadre strength of HSA Malayalam after finalising the staff fixation for the year 2014 -2015 is 211. 30% of the vacancies are to be filled by direct recruitment through Kerala Public Service Commission. It is stated that 211 teachers are working against the approved cadre strength and there is no vacancy to accommodate any further direct recruits. The applicants are seen to have filed a rejoinder as well as a miscellaneous application, producing further documents, but the rejoinder and the miscellaneous application are not a part of the records in this case. After considering the contentions advanced on either side, the Tribunal accepted the assertion of the third respondent that there are no vacancies and held that in the absence of materials to dispel the assertion, no direction can be issued to report any further vacancies. It was directed that if the applicants filed representation before the second respondent DPI pointing out the existence of additional vacancies, the respondents shall pass appropriate orders within one month from the date of receipt of the representation.