Case: Sajeesh Babu K Vs. N.K.Santhosh

a) On 27.12.2007, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., a Public Sector Oil Company engaged in refining of crude oil and marketing of various petroleum products (in shortt No. 2 herein invited applications for grant of LPG distributorship for Edavanna, Malappuram District, Kerala, a distributorship reserved for Scheduled Caste applicants. In total, 41 persons including the appellant and respondent Nos. 1 and 3 herein applied for the grant of licence for the same.b) The Corporation, after conducting interviews and evaluating the merits and demerits of the candidates as per the procedure prescribed under the guidelines for the selection of Bharatgas Distributors, selected the appellant herein for grant of licence of LPG distributorship and issued him a Letter of Intent dated 25.06.2009.c) Challenging the genuineness of the experience certificates produced by the appellant herein, Shri N.K. Santhosh-Respondent No.1 herein filed a petition being W.P.(C) No. 7622 of 2010 before the High Court of Kerala. Learned single Judge of the High Court, by judgment dated 16.03.2011, allowed the petition and quashed the distributorship granted to the appellant herein.d) Against the said judgment, the appellant herein filed a Writ Appeal being No. 464 of 2011 before the High Court. The Division Bench of the High Court, by impugned judgment dated 06.04.2011, dismissed the said appeal.e) Aggrieved by the said judgment, the appellant has filed this appeal by way of special leave before this

Reasoning: 18) It is clear that in a matter of appointment/selection by an Expert Committee/Board consisting of qualified persons in the particular field, normally, the Courts should be slow to interfere with the opinions expressed by the experts, unless there is any allegation of mala fides against the experts who had constituted the Selection Committee. Admittedly, in the case on hand, there is no allegation of mala fides against the 3 experts in the Selection Committee. In such circumstances, we are of the view that it would normally be wise and safe for the courts to leave the decision of selection of this nature to the experts who are more familiar with the technicalities/nature of the work. In the case on hand, the Expert Committee evaluated the experience certificates produced by the appellant herein, interviewed him by putting specific questions as to direct sale, home delivered products, hospitality/service industry etc. and awarded marks. In such circumstances, we hold that the High Court ought not to have sat as an appellate Court on the recommendations made by the Expert Committee.19) In addition to the same, it is also asserted by the Corporation and informed to the High Court as well as to this Court that in order to ascertain the genuineness of the contents of experience certificates Exh. Nos. P2 and P3, the Corporation deputed responsible persons for verification and, in fact, they met the issuing authority and satisfied with the correctness of their statement. In view of this aspect, we are satisfied that the learned single Judge as well as the Division Bench committed an error in interfering with the decision of the Selection Committee. We have already noted that there is no allegation of mala fides against the members of the Selection Committee. Even on equity, the appellant is an unemployed M.Tech post-Graduate and the contesting respondent No.1 is working as an Assistant Engineer in the Kerala State Electricity Board, in other words, he is fully employed on the date of the selection of LPG distributorship. Looking at from any angle, the High Court was not justified in upsetting the decision of the Selection Committee, particularly, in the absence of any mala fides against them and there is no warrant for direction to re-assess the marks of the appellant afresh by excluding the marks for certificates (Exh. Nos. P2 and P3), particularly, in the light of the detailed explanation offered by the Corporation about the mode of selection.