IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civl Writ Petition No.17069 of 2003 Date of Decision : September 07, 2011. Gurmeet Singh .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Rajeshwar Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.Rupinder Khosla, Additional AG, Punjab. Mr.Deepak Sibal, Advocate, for respondent No.4 to 6. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) The petitioner seeks quashing of the order dated 30.9.2003 (Annexure P-7) whereby his claim for selection to the post of Motor Vehicle Inspector, has been turned down by the Subordinate Services Selection Board, Punjab (for short, `the Board'). Broadly admitted facts are that the petitioner applied for the post of Motor Vehicle Inspector in response to the advertisement No.3 of 1998. The petitioner was not selected purportedly being lower in merit. The petitioner, on the other hand, questioned the merit list prepared by the Board and approached this Court in Civil Writ Petition No.11164 of 2003. That writ petition was disposed of vide order dated 22.7.2003 with a CWP No.17069 of 2003 [2] direction to the Board to dispose of the petitioner's claim as contained in the legal notice served on his behalf. The Chairman of the Selection Board passed the impugned order dated 30.9.2003 pursuant thereto, the operative and relevant part whereof reads as follows:- “......4. Whereas, in compliance with the above directions of the Hon'ble High Court, legal notice dated 14.6.2007 which has been considered and it was found from the record that some discrepancies have been detected while awarding marks to the petitioner by the then board. Since the earlier board has become defunct and the present Subordinate Service Selection board has not started functioning due to ban on fresh recruitment imposed by the State Government. After taking into consideration all the pros and cons of this case and to avoid subsequent legal complication, it has been felt necessary to seek the directions of the Hon'ble High Court to place the matter before the newly constituted Board to review the selection of the petitioner in the facts of his documents attached with his application form. It is pertinent to mention here that State Government had imposed a ban on recruitment, as such the claim of the petitioner will be placed before the Board and as and when the ban is lifted by the State Government, his claim will be considered as per law if the Hon'ble High Court directs to do so. It is also worth mentioning that CWP No.13429 of 1999-Tarlochan Singh versus State of Punjab, CWP No.15250/99 Ram Murti versus State, CWP No.5790/99-Manjit Singh versus State and CWP No.2109/99- Rajnish Gupta versus State regarding quashing of the selection for the post of Motor Vehicle Inspectors have already been CWP No.17069 of 2003 [3] admitted/are pending for decision in the Hon'ble High Court......” (emphasis applied) It may be seen that the Chairman of the Board has candidly acknowledged that there are some discrepancies in the awarding of marks to the petitioner but he expressed his inability to rectify the discrepancies on the plea that the Board had become defunct and that an appropriate decision shall be taken by the newly constituted Board. The Subordinate Service Selection Board, Punjab has since been re-constituted and is stated to be functional. In somewhat similar situation, a Division Bench of this Court in CWP No.17100 of 2003 (Dilpreet Singh versus State of Punjab and others), decided on 8.4.2004, held as follows:- “...We are of the view that injustice done to the petitioner on account of wrong calculation cannot be perpetuated. Error in calculation ought to be rectified and the petitioner is entitled to add one extra mark. If this results in disturbing a person who has been wrongly appointed by error of calculations, it may be inevitable. Accordingly, this petition is allowed and a direction is issued that necessary follow-up action be taken by rectifying the error of calculation by one mark in accordance with law within four months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.....” Having heard learned counsel for the parties, I find that the controversy involved in the present case is similar to one Dilpreet Singh who was a candidate for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) and his name was also not recommended being lower in merit though there was some CWP No.17069 of 2003 [4] discrepancy in the preparation of the result. For the reasons afore-stated, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order dated 30.9.2003 (Annexure P-7) to the extent of the inability expressed by the Chairman of the Board in not rectifying the discrepancies, is set-aside. The Board is directed to remove the discrepancies alleged to have been detected in the matter of awarding marks to the petitioner and re-determine his merit viz-a-viz other selected candidates. In case the petitioner makes it to the merit list, his name shall be recommended and he shall be given appointment without disturbing the candidates who have already been appointed. The petitioner shall not be entitled to any arrears of pay, though he shall be given notional pay and seniority as per his merit. It is further however clarified and directed that if there are cuttings/erasings in the answer sheet of the petitioner, the above stated direction shall not be required to be complied with as then it shall be a case when the very purity and sanctity of the examination would be under clouds. The State Transport Commissioner, Punjab is accordingly directed to depute a senior officer of the Department not below the rank of Joint State Transport Commissioner, in whose presence the answer sheets shall be opened and the discrepancies removed. The said officer shall be required to certify in writing that there is no cutting/erasing in the answering sheet(s). Ordered accordingly. Dasti. September 07, 2011 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE