tition No 226 of 1986
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India
WITH Civil Appeal No 1263 of 1990
From the Judgment and Order dated 2841989 of the Central Administrative Tribunal Hyderabad in TA No 1146 of 1986
Dr LM Singhvi Dr Gauri Shankar C Mukopadhya PN Misra and HS Parihar for the Petitioners
Madhava Reddy Vivek Gambhir SK Gambhir RD Upadhyaya and Surender Karnail for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATH MISRA J
Petitioners are employees under the State Insurance Corporation respondent No 1
According to the notification dated 22nd of April 1977 issued in exer cise of powers 121 conferred by section 971  1 2xxx section 2A and section 172 of the  hereinafter re ferred to as the Act  which came by way of supersession of the Employees State Insurance Corporation Recruitment Regulations 1965 the post of Insurance InspectorManager Grade II was treated partly as selection and partly as nonselection
There was no age limit for departmental candi dates and two thirds of the vacancies were to be filled up promotion and onethird by competitive examination under the Rules
By advertisement dated 6th August 1983 applications were invited for filling up the one third vacancies by direct recruitment to the category of post of Insurance InspectorManager Grade II
The petitioners in this applica tion under article 32 of the Constitution responded to the said advertisement and were in due course declared as successful in the test
In consideration of the fact that a good number of vacancies were then existing and in anticipation of the position that more vacancies were about to occur a select list was drawn up for the existing and future vacancies
In the said select list petitioners featured at Sr
114 116 121 159 171 172 and 188 respectively
The panel was notified and in accordance with the practice petitioners along with other successful candidates were individually intimated by respondent No 2 on 191984
As already indicated the direct recruitment was on the basis of examination and interview
The advertisement did not prescribe any pass marks in the interview though for the written examination 40 was prescribed
Selection was however made on the basis of 40 in the interview test and those who did not secure 40 in the interview were not selected
Challenge was made by the unsuccessful candidates questioning their rejection by contending that in the ab sence of any prescription of pass marks for the interview test there was no justification to apply the 40 basis
Writ Petitions were also filed when the respondents instead of appointing people from the panel of successful candidates went on filling up existing vacancies out of the category of promotees
Such petitions were pending before the Calcutta Madras and Andhra Pradesh High Courts when the Central Administrative Tribunals came to be set up
These were transferred to the respective Benches of the Central Admin istrative Tribunals and on being clubbed were disposed of by a common judgment dated 28th of April 1989 by the Hydera bad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal
The Tribu nal held We would direct in these cases that the respondents shall work out and estimate the vacancies available upto 20th 122 June 1986 accurately we have used the word accurately  as an apprehension has been expressed that direct recruits are not getting their due since over 320 posts were filled up between May 1986 and December 1988 by promotees on ad hoc basis or otherwise
After such estimation the respondents shall deduct therefrom 116 vacancies which have already been filled and make available the remaining vacancies to the applicants and others who took the examination on the basis of aggregate marks ie total marks obtained in the written test and the oral interview
Such of the applicants in all the three cases before us and heard by us at Hyderabad Madras and Calcutta who come within the zone of selection in accordance with this procedure as directed by us would be entitled to appointment
 The writ petition is by the successful candidates whose names appear in the panel but who have not been given ap pointments
They have contended that the respondents were entitled to the issue of appointment orders to them inasmuch as vacancies exist and there was no indication that the life of the select list would expire either at the end of one year or on the expiry of the further extended period of six months and when there has been no fresh select list as yet
The decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal referred to above has been assailed by special leave chal lenging the direction of the Tribunal that the fresh select list filling up the remaining vacancies as on 20th June 1986 should be prepared on the basis of total marks ob tained in the written examination and interview in disregard of the qualifying marks for the latter
We granted special leave and have heard the writ petition and the civil appeal together
As already indicated the last list on the basis of recruitment examination was drawn up in 1984
There have been a good number of vacancies then existing and subse quently a number of them have arisen as against which only 116 appointments have been made including 16 out of the reserved categories
At one stage of the hearing we had indicated to Shri Madhav Reddy appearing for the respond entCorporation that the existing vacancies should be filled up out of the panel of 1984 and in answer to this sugges tion an affidavit has been filed to say that candidates have been waiting for the holding of fresh recruitment examination and if out of the panel of 1984 all the existing vacancies are directed to be filled up they would be frus trated
There is force in the submission
The Tribunal in its decision has indicated 123 that even upto 20th June 1984 there were some vacancies which were available to be filled up out of the panel
On account of respondents  inaction in holding of annual re cruitment examinations vacancies have accumulated
Keeping all these aspects in view we direct that 50 of the vacan cies existing upto 31st of December 1989 relatable to the one third quota should be filled up out of the panel after giving credit to 116 appointments noticed by the Tribunal
The remaining vacancies should be filled up by holding of a fresh recruitment examination latest before 30th of Septem ber 1990
So far as the remaining question that was debated before the Tribunal is concerned we are of the view that the scheme intended for recruitment should be on the basis of an examination comprising of written test and interview
We agree with the submission of Shri Madhav Reddy that inter view has its own place in the matter of the selection proc ess and the choice of the candidate
Once this is recog nised it would be appropriate to require every candidate to pass the interview test and for that purpose there should be a basic limit provided
In the absence of any prescription of qualifying marks for the interview test the same pre scription of 40 as applicable for the written examination seems to be reasonable
That has been the view expressed by one of us Punchhi J in a decision Rajesh Sood  Ors
vs Director General Employees State Insurance Corporation  Anr decided on August 7 1985 to which our attention has been drawn
We approve of the view
Accordingly we modify the direction of the Administrative Tribunal and hold that in the oral examination the pass mark shall be 40 and 40 pass marks shall be insisted separately for the written as also the oral test for qualifying in th selection
The appeal is partly allowed and both the matters are disposed of by this common judgment
There shall be no order as to costs
TNA Appeal allowed in part


Summary:
In Dr Pradeep Jain vs Union of India  the Court had laid down a scheme of admission to medical colleges in graduate and post graduate courses
By its order dated September 1987 in a miscellaneous petition the Court made certain specific directions for the sake of bringing about uniformity in post graduate medical teaching and allowed a five year period upto 1992 for doing so
In 6 of the said order it also fixed a uniform schedule for inviting applications for holding the selection examination declara tion of the result and admission of students to the post graduate courses
11 was laid down therein that the courses of study shall commence in every institution throughout the country from May 2 every year
The said time frame was intended to be brought into force from the year 1988 The Union of India the Medical Council of India the State Governments Universities medical institutions and all other authorities involved were required to give full effect to the orders and directions
copy of the order was communi cated forthwith to the Chief Secretary every State and Union Territory for compliance
In State of Bihar vs San jay Kumar AIR 1990 SC 749 dealing with the lapse on the part of the State of Bihar in the matter of compliance with the directions of 1987 the Court had expressed the hope and trust that everyone con cerned would comply with the time frame strictly in future and held out a serious threat of punishment against the defaulting authorities
In the instant interlocutory application the respondents sought grant of time to the State of Uttar Pradesh for implementing the reader dated September 25 1987 and com mence the session for post graduate education from 2nd May 1990 in all the seven medical colleges run by 136 it and to hold the competitive examination for admitting the postgraduate students for the year 1990 through the University of Lucknow
Their stand was that there was scope for confusion relating to the directions and non compliance was relatable to a bona fide mistake
Disposing of the application the Court HELD 1
The directions of the Court are not intended to be brushed aside and overlooked or ignored
Meticulous compliance is the only way to respond to them
141G 21 In the instant case two distinct sets of directions were made by the Court one in regard to requirement of change of the regulations and rules and the procedural aspects of the scheme and the other for regulating admis sion and commencement of teaching
There was no scope for confusion relating to them
140C D 22 It was the obligation of the State of Uttar Pradesh in terms of the orders of 1987 and 1989 to initiate action for admission in appropriate time so as to allow the com mencement of the course for the year 1990 with effect from May 2 1990
The respondents  stand that the entrance exami nation for the remaining seats besides 25 controlled by the AllMS was to be conducted by the University of Lucknow on 27th May 1990 itself was contrary to the scheme
140E F 23 Where the direction is clear and arising out of default of compliance a further direction is made clarify ing the position and warning defaulting parties of serious consequences there was no scope for any justification for continued default
In failing to take notice of the Court s directions the State Government and its officers have exhib ited a conduct of non cooperation and callousness
In fact their performance was nothing short of contumacy
It is but appropriate therefore to impose exemplary costs against the State of Uttar Pradesh as also the Principal of each of the seven medical colleges
140D G H The State of UP shall pay costs of Rs20000 while each of the Principals of the seven medical colleges shall pay Rs500 by way of the costs which shall be recovered personally from their salary and they would not be entitled to reimbursement of the same from the State exchequer
141A 3
The State of UP to hold the selection examination stipulated by it for May 27 1990 by 30th of September 1990 and the University 137 of Lucknow is authorised to conduct it
The result of the examination should be published within one week that is by 8th of October 1990 and admissions should be completed on or before 26th of October 1990 and classes shall commence on 1st of November 1990
The classes shall be deemed to have commenced from 2nd May 1990 and each of the medical col leges shall undertake to provide additional teaching to compensate the students for the days lost
141D E 4
A warning is administered to everyone associated with the scheme for implementing the directions contained in the main judgment and the subsequent orders that a future de fault by anyone in any part of the country shall be serious ly viewed and drastically dealt with
141F