NIRODE BARAN NANDY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are all sub-Assistant Engineers in the Mechanical Division of the Public Health Engineering Directorate. One of their grievances before the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal was that they had been wrongly denied the right to participate in an interview held by the State Public Service Commission in November 1994 for appointment to the post of Assistant Engineers (Mechanical) in the Directorate. Their writ application which was filed in December 1994 was transferred to the Tribunal under the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. An interim order was passed on 30th September 1996 directing the respondents not fill any more posts of Assistant Engineers till the disposal of the application. The application was ultimately dismissed by the Tribunal on 13th January 1998.

(2.) As the facts of the case have been fully set out in the judgment of my learned brother S.N. Bhattacharya, J. it is not necessary to set out the same in extensor again. Only those facts, which are relevant to the particular issue, which I wish to address viz. the process of selection by the Public Service Commission, are briefly noted.

(3.) The arbitrariness in the process followed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in the selection of Assistant Engineers (Mechanical) is evident from the outset.