SWEYIEVIKUL TASE Vs. MHASHEKHOL RICHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. Joshua Sheqi, learned counsel for the writ appellant; Mr. A. Sophie, learned counsel for the respondent no. 1; and Mr. Imti Imchen, learned Additional Advocate General, Nagaland for the State respondents.

(2.) This intra-court appeal is directed against a Judgment and Order dtd. 6/10/2023 passed in a writ petition, W.P.[C] no. 77/2023. The writ appellant herein was the respondent no. 5 in the writ petition, W.P.[C] no. 77/2023 and the writ petitioner therein has been impleaded as the respondent no. 1 in this appeal.

(3.) By the Judgment and Order dtd. 6/10/2023, the appointment made in favour of the writ appellant-respondent no. 5 in a Grade-IV post vide an Order of Appointment dtd. 31/3/2023 at the Veterinary Dispensary, Jakhama has been set aside and quashed. The petitioner therein, that is, the respondent no. 1 herein instituted the writ petition on the premise that the appointment of the writ appellant- respondent no. 5 was made on land-ownership basis but his application for appointment to the same post on land-ownership basis was not considered. It was contended that the writ appellant-respondent no. 5 was not eligible to be appointed on land-ownership basis, in terms of the extant policy governing the matter of such appointment. In the writ petition, the writ appellant-respondent no. 5 raised a preliminary objection on the maintainability of the writ petition on the ground that at the time of preferring the application for the post in question on 9/7/2021, writ petitioner-respondent no. 1 was already over-aged as he was over 35 years, which is ordinarily, the upper age-limit for entry into Government employment in Nagaland. Negating such contention raised as preliminary issue on behalf of the writ appellant- respondent no. 5, the learned Single Judge in view of two Office Memoranda - one dtd. 16/7/2021 providing for one year relaxation in upper-age limit w.e.f. 22/4/2022 and the other dtd. 22/2/2022 providing relaxation for two years in upper age-limit w.e.f. 28/2/2022 - had observed that the application submitted by the petitioner- respondent no. 1 ought to have been considered as in time, in view of the relaxation in upper age-limit, provided by the Office Memoranda. With such observation, the writ petition was allowed directing the State respondents to consider the application of the petitioner-respondent no. 1 dtd. 9/7/2021 and to take immediate necessary steps for his appointment in the Grade-IV post at the Veterinary Dispensary, Jakhama by taking into consideration the Agreement dtd. 8/12/1975 made by the State respondents with the land-owners of Jakhama for the lands required to establish the Veterinary Dispensary at Jakhama.