BHANU PRATAP DHRUV Vs. BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE applicants have filed this Original Application under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 for seeking following reliefs:

(2.) THE relevant and brief facts of the case are that the applicants are working as Telecom Technical Assistants (for brevity 'TTAs') in different sections of Chhattisgarh Circle of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (in short "BSNL"). A notification dated 20.11.2012 (Annexure A -1) was issued by BSNL for Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (in short "LDCE") for promotion to the grade of Junior Telecom Officer (T) (in short "JTO") under 35% and 15% quota for filling the vacancies up to 31.03.2012. In pursuance of said notification, another letter dated 14.01.2013 (Annexure A -2) was issued by the Corporate Office (Recruitment Branch) in which the eligibility conditions and other details were mentioned. In compliance of direction contained in letter dated 14.01.2013, the Chhattisgarh Circle of BSNL issued a notification dated 14.02.2013 (Annexure A -3) for holding the said examination vide which the scheme and syllabus for the examination was also annexed. A Pre -exam training was also conducted for 10 candidates of SC/ST Category vide letter dated 21.05.2013 (Annexure A -4). The Chhattisgarh Circle conducted LDCE for promotion to the cadre of JTO on 02.06.2013. It has been alleged by the applicants that in the Question Papers, some questions were asked beyond the syllabus and some questions were of very high standard and no question was asked from the material provided to SC/ST candidates during pre -training programme.

(3.) IN the reply filed on behalf of Official Respondents No. 1 to 4, it has been submitted that LDCE for promotion to the grade of JTO was conducted on 14.02.2013. The vacancies for the said examination were 152 for 35% quota and 61 for 15% quota in Chhattisgarh Circle. Out of 28 candidates found eligible as per criteria of Recruitment Rules of JTO RR 2001, 27 candidates appeared in the examination and only 2 female candidates qualified for selection on the basis of merit. It has been stated that the Question Paper was set as per syllabus provided by the BSNL Corporate Office. The applicants who silently participated in the selection process and after declaring merit list in which they have been declared unsuccessful, cannot assail the validity of examination process. It has also been submitted that evaluation of Answer Sheets and preparation of result were done as per guidelines issued by BSNL vide letter dated 15.02.2011 (Annexure R -2). In the said guidelines, there is a provision for sending representation/feedback by the candidates/their associations on the Provisional Answer Key within 10 days after uploading the Provisional Answer Key on the website. On such representation by the Association, n Part A, 2 questions and in Part B, 1 question were found wrong and were discarded from answer sheets and the evaluation was done on the basis of rest of the questions on the recommendation of Expert Body of the department. It has also been submitted that the result of the said examination has been declared as per guidelines of BSNL dated 06.08.2010. It has further been submitted that there was a printing mistake in OMR Answer Sheet regarding negative marking and it was got corrected by Centre Supervisor and intimated to all the candidates in time.