ADITYA MARWAHA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of a bunch of writ petitions as entioned below: CWP No.27488 of 2016, CWP No.2 of 2017, CWP No.321 of 2017, CWP No.899 of 2017, CWP No.14394 of 2017, CWP No.16004of 2017, CWP No.18116 of 2017, CWP No.2138 of 2018, CWP No.14423 of 2018, CWP No.4558 of 2019, CWP No.6529 of 2019, CWP No.7279 of 2019 and CWP No.11678 of 2019 are challenging the corrigendum dtd. 20/12/2016, published on 24/12/2016 (Annexure P-5) whereby the criteria of selection for the post of Male Constable (Drivers) in Punjab Police, was modified, as well as, the consequent selection. CWP No.27494 of 2016, CWP No.13746 of 2017, CWP No.13868 of 2017, CWP No.13869 of 2017, CWP No.13899 of 2017, CWP No.24971 of 2017, CWP No.26440 of 2017, CWP No.4364 of 2018, CWP No.4363 of 2018, CWP No.4914 of 2018, CWP No.5250 of 2018, have arisen as a consequence of action taken by the authorities pursuant to the interim order dtd. 17/1/2017 passed by this court in CWP No.27494 of 2016, whereby the Police Department had revoked the orders of appointment, since those were alleged to be in violation of the interim order.

(2.) The common facts as involved in the present case and as leaded in CWP No.2 of 2017 are that the respondents had issued an advertisement dtd. 15/10/2016 for recruitment to 750 vacancies of Male Constable (Drivers) in the District Police cadre of the Punjab Police. The said advertisement is attached as Annexure P-l with petition. The advertisement prescribed the educational qualification to be 10+2 pass. Besides this the possession of driving license for Light Motor Vehicle (LMV), was also required. The said advertisement was based upon the standing order No. 12 of 2016 issued by the Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, exercising powers under Sec. 4 (d) and Sec. 45 (g) of the Punjab Police Act, 2007. The said standing order is annexed with the petition at Annexure P-2. For ready reference, the main provisions of the advertisement concerning the present case are reproduced herein-below.

(3.) Besides this, clause 11 of the advertisement stipulated that the details of the qualifications, eligibility and the procedure of selection was contained in the above mentioned standing order No. 12 of 2016 and the same is available on the website of the Police Department. The candidates should refer to the said standing order at the time of filling of the application form. Although the advertisement contained mainly the contents of the standing order, however, some of the provisions which are mentioned in the standing order and which can be of relevance in the present case, are reproduced herein-below: