VIJAY SHARMA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE writ petitions raise common questions of law and facts, and therefore, they are heard together and decided by a common judgment.

(2.) THE case of the petitioners is that an advertisement notice was issued by the respondents vide No: AIG (P) - 33159 -219 dated: 20.08.1991, inviting applications on given proforma from permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir State for making selection to the posts of Sub -Inspectors in the Executive Police and the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police in the pay scale of Rs. 1235 -2325. the Prescribed qualification for eligibility was graduation. The upper age limit was fixed at 28 years and the candidates should have been of not less than 18 years of age on the First day of January, 1991. In case of Scheduled caste/Scheduled tribe candidates, Ex -servicemen, and those already in service, the upper age limit was relaxable by two years. Clause 4 of the advertisement Notice prescribed the following tests:

(3.) IT was laid down in clause "6" of the advertisement notice that the candidates found fit in physical measurements will be allowed to compete in outdoor test and those who qualify as per standards laid down as referred to above, will only be allowed to appear in the written test. The candidates who would secure 40% marks in written examination only were entitled to be called for viva - voce. All the writ petitioners had applied. Some of them had applied in the reserved categories, for which a provision had been made in the advertisement Notice, and some of them applied in the General category. After the physical measurement test was conducted, a notice came to be published in newspaper "DAILY EXCEULSIOR" on October 2,1991, whereby the candidates who had been cleared in the Physical measurement test were asked to appear for physical tests. The names of all the petitioners appeared in the said list. In the meantime, the respondents issued a press release vide No: DIP/1958/91 dated: 15.10.1991, which was a corrigendum to the original advertisement Notice, by which the standard of physical measurements; both for male and female candidates, was re -fixed. The writ petitioners appeared in the physical test. It is admitted that all the petitioners qualified the same, and they were called for written test. It is also admitted that the petitioners qualified the written examination, and all of them were invited for viva -voce test. Respondents No:6 to 10 were members of the Committee who constituted the Selection Board, and they conducted the interviews of all the candidates including the writ petitioners in all the writ petitions. On 26.11.1992, the respondents issued a list of 111 candidates as having been selected for appointment as Sub - Inspectors in the Executive/Armed Police of the State Government. The list was pasted on the Notice board of Police Headquarters at Jammu. The petitioners names did not figure in the said list. They filed the present writ petitions sometime after the list was issued. The selection was challenged through the medium of present writ petitions on various grounds, and only two grounds were agitated at the time of hearing.