SHOUKAT NOOR Vs. STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu, invited Applications from the Permanent Residents of the State of Jammu and Kashmir for Selection to the posts of Sub-Inspector in the Jammu and Kashmir Police in its Executive, Auxiliary, Armed and Telecommunication Wings vide Advertisement Notice Nos. Pers-A-400/2009/4414-513, Pers-A-400/2009/4514-613, Pers-A-400/2009/4614-713 and Pers-A-400/2009/4714-813 Dated 29.01.2009 indicating therein, inter alia, the Minimum Educational Qualification, Age and Needed Physical Standard for the posts, besides the tests to which the candidates shall be put. THEse Tests included-

(2.) THOSE who had taken the Written Examination but were not short listed for interview, have filed these Writ Petitions questioning, inter alia, the Range Police Headquarter, Jammu's Physical Measurement/Endurance Test Notices issued by the Chairman Range Level Recruitment Board, Jammu-Range Jammu dated 27.10.2009 and Chairman Range Level Recruitment Board, Udhampur-Reasi Range dated 07.11.2009, besides seeking directions against the respondents to re-draw the merit in the Written Examination and thereafter conduct the interview of the petitioners for Selection and Appointment as Sub-Inspectors.

(3.) JUSTIFYING the process initiated for Selection and the Selection, the State-respondents, in their Response/ Supplementary Affidavit to the Writ Petitions, And the Issues that were projected by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, during the course of initial hearing, say that the posts of Sub-Inspectors available in the Four Wings of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, viz; Executive, Armed, Auxiliary and Police Telecommunications, were not disclosed in the Advertisement Notice of the Calendar Year 2009 because the proposals already mooted by the Department for creation of more posts of Sub-Inspectors, particularly in respect of the newly created Districts were under active consideration of the Government and had not been cleared before the issuance of the Advertisement Notices. The non-disclosure of the Wing wise vacancy position, it is stated, had not prevented or affected or for that matter caused any prejudice to the candidates in their participation in the Selection process. The petitioners, having opted to participate in the Selection process with the knowledge that the vacancy position had not been notified, are estopped from questioning the Selection process. It is stated that before the initiation of the Selection process, the Police Establishment Board had indicated the procedure to be followed for the Selection, and an order to this effect was issued on 17.08.2009 by the Police Headquarters. The Range Level Recruitment Boards constituted vide order, referred to hereinabove, conducted the Physical Measurement Test and Physical Endurance Test of all the eligible candidates who appeared before the respective Boards on the Scheduled dates fixed by each Range Board as per the Notices published in this behalf. The tests were of qualifying nature only and no marks had to be awarded by the Boards to the candidates. Entries of the measurement tests and other tests were made on the Application Forms and proper Registers were maintained in this regard by each Range Board. After the Physical Tests were over in some of the Ranges, a Representation was received in the Police Headquarters that the candidates who were not keeping good health on the Scheduled Date of Physical Test held by Range Poonch-Rajouri be allowed to participate in the Physical Test due to be held in Range Baramulla-Kashmir. Similar Representations were made by numerous candidates before Range DIG's requesting them that they could not appear in the Physical Test already held on account of different reasons and that they be provided a chance to appear in the interests of justice. A decision was, therefore, taken to provide opportunity to only those candidates who, on account of some or the other reasons, could not appear in the Physical Tests held earlier. The instructions were, therefore, issued to all the Range DIGs (Chairman Range Level Recruitment Boards) vide Communication dated October 20, 2009 to hold the Physical Measurement/Endurance Test for all those candidates, who, for various cogent reasons, could not appear to take the Physical Tests held earlier and that due publicity be given to the holding of the Test. The decision is stated to have been taken with a view to provide fair chance to all those who could not appear in the tests on the scheduled dates for cogent reasons and additionally because the tests were of qualifying nature. According to the State8 respondents, the Second Physical Endurance Tests were not conducted in the Ranges other than Rajouri-Poonch Range and Udhampur-Reasi Range because the Ist Endurance Test for other Districts was still in progress. According to the respondents only 59 candidates in total appeared in the Second Endurance Test in the two Ranges, i.e., 41 candidates in Udhampur-Reasi Range and 18 in Rajouri-Poonch Range. After the Physical Tests were over, the eligible candidates were put to Written Examination. The evaluation of the Answer Sheets was done by a Board of Senior Officers comprising of about 20 IPS/KPS Officers, who had joined the Police Service after their success in the competitive examinations. To maintain transparency and fairness, the codification of the Answer Sheets was also done and the Answer Sheets were issued at random to each examiner/evaluator for checking. Answers to the Objective Part of the Question Paper were checked by One Examiner and the Subjective Part by another at random to ensure fairness. The ratio of the candidates called for interview was 1:3 and accordingly the cut-off merit was fixed. All those who were above the cut-off mark were invited to appear in the interview. The cut-off merit in respect of each category/wing is stated as follows: Category Cut of merit OM RBA ST SC ALC SUPC Executive 44.5 28 29 10 22 35 Armed 42 31.5 28 12 35 32 Auxiliary 61.5 56 50 46 54.5 NIL Telecom Only 40 candidates appeared and all were called for interview. Two candidates from Rajouri-Poonch Range and 41 from the Udhampur-Reasi Range out of the total 59 candidates qualified in the Second Physical Endurance Test. Out of these candidates only 15 could qualify for interview, i.e., 5 for the post of S.I (Executive) and 10 for S.I (Armed). Out of 15 candidates, only 5 were from Open Merit Category for the post of S.I (Armed) where the cut-off merit was 42 marks. In the event of non-consideration of these 5 candidates, the merit would have been reduced to 41.5 marks in Open Merit Category. As per the merit list, there are 6 candidates having equal merit of 41.5 marks and in case of tie all of them would have to be called for interview. As no candidate out of 15 candidates had qualified for interview in the Open Merit Category for the post of S.I (Executive), therefore, the cut-off merit for the said post has remained unchanged even with the Second Endurance Test. Two candidates out of total 15 belong to RBA category for the post of S.I (Executive) where the cut-off merit was 28 marks. In case these two candidates were excluded then the cut-off merit would have been 27.5 and as per records, there are two candidates having 27.5 marks. However, none of the petitioners had secured 27.5 marks under the RBA category in Executive Zone. Similarly, four candidates under RBA category were called for interview in Armed Zone where the cut-off merit was 31.5 and in case of non-inclusion of these four candidates the merit would have come down to 31 marks. As per records, there are as many as 16 candidates with 31 marks under the RBA category in Armed Zone, however, none of the petitioners had secured 31 marks under RBA category in Armed Zone. There are 3 candidates, one each from SC, ALC & SUPC category in Executive Zone and one candidate from SC category in Armed Zone. In case these 4 candidates were also excluded from the zone of consideration, the cut-off merit still remains unchanged. None of the petitioners would, however, fall within the cutoff merit in these categories.