SHIV KUMAR MISHRA Vs. STATE BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this writ application, the petitioner have pra/yed for quashing of Annexure-5 to the writ petition and Annexure-A to the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents by an appropriate writ or order and, further, to hold that the rules relating to carry forward of the vacancies in the Government job for the reserved category shall also apply in the case of Economically Backward Class. It has also been prayed that the respondents be directed to consider the cases of the petitioners for appointment against the posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) reserved for Economically Backward Class and to clear all backlong vacancies of the aforesaid category, which according to the petitioners, are 41 in number.

(2.) The case of the petitioners is that in the year 1985-86 the public Works Department of the State of Bihar prepared a penal for appointment to the posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) and from the said penal some appointments were made till 26-2-1988. In November, 1987, the Irrigation Department, which was later known as Water Resources Department, had been declared as NODAL and had been assigned duties to get the vacancies of all concerned department of the P.W.D., P.H.E., D.R.E.O. and Irrigation Department collected and sent to the B.P.S.C. which would recommend names of suitable candidates to the said Department after complying with all the formalities, including advertisement etc. In the year 1988, the NODAL Department had gathered total number of 1562 vacancies of Junior Engineer and sent it to the B.P.S.C. vide letter No. 29 dated 21-1-1988 requesting it for making recommendation of the suitable candidates for the said posts for appointment from 1985-86 penal prepared by the Commission in the year 1987. A true copy of the said letter dated 21-1-1988 is Annexure-1 to the writ petition. The B.P.S.C. sent the names of only 926 suitable candidates to the NODAL Department from the 1985 penal and cut of whom 12 names were recommended from the category of Economically Backward Class as against 46 reserved posts for them on the basis of 3% of the total 1562 vacancies as already stated above. Out of these 12 persons only 9 of them joined. The letter dated 26-2-1988 of the B.P.S.C. in this regard has annexed as Annexure-2 to the writ petition. Thus, according to the petitioners, 34 plus 3 vacancies in the reserved category of Economically Backward Class remained to be filled up.

(3.) On 2-9-1988 a fresh requisition was sent by the NODAL Department to the B.P.S.C. for filling up 1205 vacancies of Junior Engineer along with all backlog reserved quota in different categories in which only 32 posts have been shown to be reserved for Economically Backward category. In pursuance of the said requisition the B.P.S.C. advertised only 535 plus 395 vacancies out of which 32 were shown to be reserved for Economically Backward Class. In response to the said advertisement the petitioners who belong to the Economically Backward Category applied and latter, appeared for interview and was considered as suitable candidates for the aforesaid category. Later however the Engineer in Chief of the Water Resources Department sent letter No. 447, dated 6-9-1990 to the B.P.S.C. informing it that the vacancies reserved for the Economically Backward Class category had been reduced to only six and accordingly the B.P.S.C. recommended the names of only six suitable candidates out of which only four have been appointed on the four backlong vacancies and two on the later vacancies. A true copy of the aforementioned letter has been annexed as Annexure 5 to the writ petition. The petitioners have also stated that according to the advertisement, as contained in Annexure-4 to the writ petition, there was a clause that the vacancy may increase but there was no clause for reducing same. It has also been alleged that no corrigendum to the said advertisement was ever issued. Further, it was submitted that later the Public Works Department sent four more posts to the NODAL Department under Economically Backward Class vide later dated 3-10-1988 and likewise the total vacancy, according to them, in the said category remained to be filled was 41.