TABIYAD DILIPKUMAR VECHATBHAI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is filed by the petitioners, 27 in number, who belong to the Scheduled Tribe. It is their case that they are eligible and qualified to be promoted as Police Sub-Inspectors under Rule 2(2) of the Police Sub-Inspector (Unarmed) Class-III, Recruitment Rules, 2008 popularly known as Mode-2. They have challenged the selection list dated 06.10.2017 insofar as and to the extent that it does not include the petitioners' names.

(2.) The petitioners had joined the Gujarat Police Force as unarmed police constables. Some of them have been promoted as Head Constables and some have been further promoted as Assistant Sub-Inspectors. A selection process for the promotion of PSI Mode-2 was initiated by Circular/Advt No. 61/2015-16 issued by the Gujarat Subordinate Services Selection Board for 403 vacancies and for which 57 vacancies were reserved for ST category. The petitioners applied, passed the physical test and they appeared in the written test consisting of two parts mainly Part-I - Objective Type written test and Part-II- Subjective Type written test. It is the case of the petitioners that a select list of 276 candidates was published which included only 30 candidates of these ST category. The cut-off marks of the ST category was 173.50. All the petitioners had obtained more than the said cut-off marks and yet they did not figure on the select list. These 27 petitioners have therefore approached this Court.

(3.) Mr. K.B. Pujara, learned advocate for the petitioner invited my attention to the advertisement in question and submitted that the examinations were to be held in accordance with the Home Department notification dated 10.09.2014. As per the said notification, the petitioners had to pass a written test - Objective Type and Subjective Type Part - I and Part - II respectively, each consisting of 200 marks. Rule 8 of the Gujarat Police Sub-Inspector (Unarmed Branch) Special Competitive Examination Amendment Rules, 2014 provided that the minimum qualifying standard that may be determined by the Board shall not in any case be less than 40% of marks in each test, i.e. Objective Type and Subjective Type written tests.