BISWANATH DALEI Vs. PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FOREST

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner by filing this writ application seeks a direction for consideration of his candidature in Schedule Caste (SC) category so as to be declared as qualified in the Viva Voce Test in the process of recruitment of contractual Forest Guards under Dhenkanal Forest Division held in the year 2006 and accordingly to give him the appointment against one such vacant post of contractual Forest Guard.

(2.) Facts necessary for the purpose are as under:-

(3.) The opposite parties in the counter have pleaded that in the written test, for the candidates belonging to SC and ST categories, the qualifying marks has been fixed at 40%. The petitioner having scored 20.4 marks out of 50 marks had been qualified as SC candidate. It is next stated that inadvertently the petitioner had been shown as ST candidate in the provisional result of the written test and that having been further taken into account; he has been found to have passed in the Physical Standard Measurement Test. Thus, according to the opposite parties this would not have happened, had he been treated as a candidate of SC category since he got the advantage of the relaxation in height by 10 cm which was not available for General and SC candidate. This being said to have been inadvertently made, the same has later on been rectified and therefore his candidature was not considered. It is stated that the petitioner having known this has also not pointed it out. He being well aware of the fact, took the advantage as ST category candidate to which he did not belong. Therefore, it cannot be claimed a matter of right that he has to be held to have passed the Physical Standard Measurement Test meant for the candidates of SC category though he is not passing it and the follow up action cannot be taken up accordingly.