(1.) THE appointments of respondent No(s). 7 and 8 as Assistant Engineers with the Brahmaputra Board (hereafter referred to as the Board) are under challenge. The contention of the petitioner in essence is that he having fared much better than the said respondents in the written examination, their selection only on the basis of the relatively higher marks obtained by them in the interview is unsustainable in law.
(2.) I have heard Mr. P.G. Baruah, senior advocate for the petitioner, Mr. D. Choudhury, advocate for the respondent No. 7 and Mr. D Baruah, learned Standing Counsel for the Board.
(3.) IN its counter, the Board has pleaded that in response to the advertisement, 166 candidates applied out of which 130 appeared in the written examination/screening test. According to it, after receiving 166 applications, it was decided to conduct a qualifying test in order to reduce the number of candidates for interview. Accordingly, only those candidates why had secured 50% in the written test were treated to have qualified for the interview. It has been maintained that the petitioner, respondent Nos. 7 and 8 and other candidates securing above, the cut off percentage of marks in the screening test were called for the interview and based on the recommendation of the Departmental Selection Committee conducting the selection, the respondent Nos. 7 and 8 were appointed. The allegation of arbitrariness and discrimination has been denied.