N.S. SIVAKUMAR Vs. ADDITIONAL CHIEF SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in all the writ petitions are candidates of the Backward Class Category claiming relaxation in age at par with the candidates of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes, which stands at 48 years, on the ground that they also belong to the reserved category of candidates and, therefore, any denial of age relaxation to them would amount to invidious discrimination by not extending a benefit which otherwise ought to have been also given to the petitioners herein. Their contention is that this is not based on any rationale and there are no reasons available, more so in view of the fact that the respondents had extended this benefit in the previous notification dated 13.1.2019, but for the same vacancies and for the same selections, the fresh impugned notification dated 12.12.2019 omits the said benefit. The affidavit of the State Government as well as the High Court nowhere discloses any rational basis and there being no intelligible differentia decipherable, the said benefit should be extended to the petitioners herein as they also belong to the weaker section of the Backward Class Category. This they say is in order to allow a concession enabling the reserved category Backward Class candidates to attain the objective of getting suitable representation, inasmuch as relaxation in age is a tool to fulfill the aim of reservation and denying the said benefit, therefore, is against the constitutional mandates for the reserved category.

(2.) The second argument emphasizes on the fact that the vacancies for which such relaxation is being claimed relate to the year 2013, when the last selections were held. These selections were inordinately delayed for almost six years and commenced in the year 2019. This long lapse of time, therefore, deprived the petitioners of their opportunity to avail the benefits as candidates in the said selection process and, therefore, by placing heavy reliance on a Division Bench judgment of the Jharkhand High Court in Bhola Nath Rajak and others v. The State of Jharkhand and others , 2014 SCC Online Jhar 73: (2014) 2 AIR Jhar R 638, it is urged that in order to remedy this unjust deprivation, a relaxation over and above the maximum age should be otherwise prescribed to enable the petitioners to undertake the fresh examinations and selection process of District Judge (Entry Level).

(3.) It is submitted that the petitioners had a right to apply and appear in the recruitment process, which rights have been taken away in spite of the fact that they were eligible, but a delay and then the subsequent change in the stand of the respondents has brought about this unjust situation.