JARNAIL SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present writ petition is preferred by 3 petitioners i.e. Jarnail Singh, Joginder Pal and Surinder Kumari, candidates for appointment to Punjab Civil Services (Judicial Branch) pursuant to advertisement dated 08.10.1998. Petitioner No. 1 belongs to Backward Class, whereas petitioners No. 2 and 3 belong to the category of Scheduled Castes. All the petitioners qualified written test by securing more than 45% marks and were called for viva voce. The names of the petitioners appear as the candidates recommended for the appointment in the result publishes in the Punjab Government Gazette on 04.10.1999 All the petitioners had obtained more than 45% marks but less than 50% marks in the aggregate of written test and viva voce. The petitioners were not offered appointment in view of the decision of this Court communicated on 08.11.1998 to the Government of Punjab. The relevant extract from the communication reads as under:

(2.) THE interpretation of the Rules in question is not res -integra. Such Rules came up for consideration in CWP No. 1313 of 1986 titled 'Ram Bhagat v. State of Haryana & another' decided on 05.06.1987. The challenge in the said petition before this Court was to fixing of minimum standard of total marks for interview/viva voce in Rule 8, inter alia, for the reason that it is irrational and that the provisions fixing identical qualifying marks as 55% both for general and Scheduled Castes candidates is illegal. Such Rule as it existed in Haryana, is pari materia with Rule 8 introduced in Punjab vide notification dated 10.04.1989. The Division Bench of this Court held that Rule 8 is for judging the fitness or suitability of a candidate for the job and merely because some candidates, who could not possibly qualify, does not mean either that any legal right of theirs' has been affected or that any prejudice is caused to them. Thus Rule 8 was not found to be invalid. While examining the condition of obtaining 55% marks in the aggregate of written test including viva voce even by Scheduled Castes candidates, the Court found that there is no obligation upon the respondents to recruit the Scheduled Castes candidates by relaxing the standard for the purpose laid down in the Rule.

(3.) AFTER the aforesaid judgment, the Rules were amended in Punjab vide notification dated 04.06.1991 contemplating that no candidate shall be called for viva voce test unless he obtains at least 50% qualifying marks in the aggregate of all the written papers, it being 45% marks for Scheduled Caste and Backward Class candidates [Rule 7(2)]. The merit of the qualified candidates is required to be determined by the Punjab Public Service Commission as per the aggregate marks obtained in the written papers and viva voce [Rule 8] as amended in the year 1991