AKHTARUL ISLAM Vs. D I OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner is a poor man, belonging to the down trodden class of the society. He is neither litigation minded nor litigation is his hobby, but then, circumstances have compelled him to enter into litigation, which he is constrained to pursue willy-nilly. He has approached the portals of this Court being aggrieved by the arbitrary action of the Opp. Parties, who have disqualified him in course of the selection for the post of constable in General Railway Police, Cuttack.

(2.) According to Learned Counsel for the Petitioner, in response to an advertisement issued in daily news paper inviting applications from eligible candidates, the Petitioner applied in prescribed proforma for the post of constable on 18.8.2008 After due scrutiny of the application form & on being satisfied that the Petitioner satisfies all the eligibility criteria, his application was accepted & he was called upon to appear at the physical test on 1.9.2008. After the physical test, the Opp. Parties without any rhyme or reason withdrew the identity card & informed him that his form has been rejected. Being aggrieved, the Petitioner approached the Public Relation Officer-cum-Superintendent of Railway Police & wanted to know the reasons for disqualifying him. The Public Relation Officer informed the Petitioner that as he had committed a mistake in calculation of his age & furnished wrong particulars in the application form, he was disqualified. The said fact was intimated to the Petitioner by letter dated 21.10.2008 (Annexure-2). The relevant portion of the letter reads as follows:

(3.) After receiving notice, counter affidavit has been filed by the Superintendent of Railway Police taking a stand that during the scrutiny it was found that the Petitioner against Col. No. 6 of the application form, reflected his age to be 22 years, 5 months & 27 days, but on actual calculation it was found that his age was 22 years 5 months & 26 days. In view of the aforesaid anomaly, the Superintendent of Railway Police disqualified the Petitioner to appear the rest of the tests.