PRABHU BAITHA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner seeks a direction tor his appointment to a suitable post on the basis of his position in the selection test held by the Bihar Public Service Commission ('the Commission' hereinafter) for that purpose.

(2.) The facts are brief and without any controversy and can be stated thus. The Commission issued an advertisement for Graduate Level (Special) Competitive Examination, 1994. The advertisement which was confined to candidates from scheduled castes/scheduled tribes and extremely backward class was for appointments on 22 different posts in different Government departments. Graduation was the basic qualification required for all the posts but some posts under the advertisement, having regard to their nature of work, required the candidate to be a graduate with certain specified combination of subject or to have passed certain subjects at certain levels. For example, for the post of Inspector, Weights and Measures in the Agriculture Directorate, the eligibility criteria was B. Sc. (Agriculture or Engineering) B. Sc. with Mathematics or Statistics and for the post of Junior Statistical Assistant/Block Statistical Supervisor, the criteria included mathematics atleast at the matric level. The selection of candidates was to be made on the basis of a competitive examination in which general Hindi and general knowledge were compulsory papers in addition to which a candidate was required to offer some optional papers making his choice from the list of subjects given in the advertisement. The advertisement required the candidates to make application in the prescribed form 'Ka'.

(3.) The Petitioner made application in response to. the advertisement in the prescribed form 'Ka' enclosing all the relevant documents/certificates. Before proceeding further, it must be noted that neither the advertisement nor the prescribed form of application required the candidate to specify his choice or preference of post(s) on which he desired to be appointed and the Commission was, therefore, to make its recommendation in favour of a candidate selected in the competitive examination on the basis of his position in the select list and having regard to the eligibility criteria for the different posts under the advertisement.