Salam Samarjeet Singh vs High Court Of Manipur At Imphal And Anr

As most of the relevant facts including the submissions of the rival parties as well as relevant provisions of rules have already been extracted, I will borrow and refer from such facts and statutory provisions where ever necessary. Only to recapitulate the seminal facts, it is noted that the relevant advertisement for filling up a single vacancy in the post of District Judge (Entry Level) by way of direct recruitment through examination of 2013 was published on 15.5.2013. The advertisement disclosed that the recruitment shall be governed by the Manipur Judicial Service (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2005 (for brevity, ‘the Rules’). The duly filled applications were to be sent to Registrar, High Court of Manipur at Imphal. Inter alia, it was also indicated, as is the position in the Rules, that for being called for viva voce test a candidate must secure in the written examination 60% marks if he is from unreserved category and 50% if he is of reserved category. The viva voce was to carry 50 marks. The examination was held in July 2013. As per initial notification dated 17.10.2013, the Joint Registrar notified that none of the candidates was successful in their written examination. The mark sheet was published on 29.01.2014 in which petitioner being a scheduled caste category candidate had secured more than the minimum qualifying marks of 50%. In fact he had secured 52.8% marks. Hence petitioner filed a representation on 04.02.2014 for reconsideration of his result. On 07.02.2014 the High Court issued a corrigendum and declared the petitioner as successful in the written examination. Be it noted that the petitioner was the only successful candidate for the unreserved single post under contest. For almost a year the recruitment process remained at a standstill. Through a letter dated 29.01.2015 the petitioner was informed that viva voce will be held on 12.02.2015. The petitioner undertook the said test. On 19.02.2015 the petitioner learnt from a notice dated 16.02.2015 issued by the Joint Registrar of the High Court and placed on the Notice Board of the High Court that the petitioner had failed to qualify in the interview.

The petitioner made a request for certain informations under the RTI Act from the concerned officer of High Court of Manipur on 21.02.2015. The informations sought for included queries as to whether there was any pass mark/cut-off mark out of the total 50 marks for the interview and also details of the particular rule under which he had failed in the interview. The information was supplied on 19.03.2015 disclosing that he had obtained 18.8% marks in the viva voce test and the cut-off mark/pass mark is 40% out of total 50 marks for the interview. The High Court did not provide reference to any particular rule under which petitioner had been found not qualified in the interview.

A perusal of relevant informations given to the candidates in the advertisement, particularly the general instructions contained in Appendix ‘A’ of the Scheme of Examination clearly discloses that scheduled caste candidates shall be eligible for the viva voce examination on obtaining 50% or more marks in the written examination. It is also clearly spelt out that selection of candidates shall be made on the basis of cumulative grade value obtained in the written and viva voce examination. In my considered view the statutory mandate for selection on the basis of cumulative grade required the authorities to add the marks of both the examinations, prepare the merit list as per total marks for the cumulative grade and make the selection from such merit list.

2. An advertisement was issued by the Manipur High Court vide Notification No. HCL/A-1/2013-A&E(J)/288 dated 15th May, 2013, inviting applications for recruitment to one vacant (unreserved) post of District Judge (Entry Level) in Higher Judicial Service through District Judge (Entry Level) Direct Recruitment Examination, 2013. As per the conditions prescribed in the aforesaid advertisement, the petitioner being eligible applied for the said post under the category of ‘Scheduled Caste’. Examination was held on 21st, 22nd & 23rd July, 2013 and the petitioner also appeared in the same. The High Court of Manipur issued a Notification dated 17th October, 2013 stating therein that none of the candidates had secured the minimum qualifying marks in the said Examination. The marks obtained by all the candidates who appeared in the said examination were uploaded on the website of the High Court of Manipur on 29th January, 2014. From the result made available on the website of the High Court, the petitioner learnt that he had scored 52.8% and that he was eligible for the interview/viva-voce as per the advertisement dated 15th May, 2013 and Schedule “B” of the Manipur Judicial Service Rules, 2005, (for short ‘the MJS Rules’) as he belongs to the Scheduled Caste community of the State of Manipur. The petitioner had given a representation on 4th February, 2014 to the High Court for reviewing the Notification dated 17th October, 2013 issued by the High Court of Manipur. In response to petitioner’s representation, the High Court issued a corrigendum dated 7th February, 2014, modifying the said Notification by stating that only one candidate namely Shri Salam Samarjeet Singh (SC), petitioner herein had secured the minimum qualifying marks in the written examination held on 21st, 22nd and 23rd July, 2013 for recruitment to MJS Grade-I, under direct recruitment quota and had been found qualified for appearing in the viva-voce. It was also stated therein that the date and time for interview would be notified in due course. Before conducting the viva-voce, the respondent High Court held a Full Court meeting on 12th January, 2015 wherein one of the agenda was to prescribe “qualifying marks for interview (viva-voce)”. After discussion on this agenda, the Full Court took a decision that “no one shall be declared pass and selected for appointment unless he secures minimum 40% from the interview”.

7. In its counter affidavit, the respondent-High Court has further stated that the Recruitment Committee during the course of the interview of the petitioner, which lasted for half an hour, did individual assessment of the candidate in nine disciplines (each discipline carrying 5.55 marks). The total marks obtained by the petitioner from each member were 19.5, 19.0 and 18.0 totalling to 37.6%. The petitioner failed to secure the minimum qualifying marks of 40% in viva-voce as prescribed under the MJS Rules and hence he failed to qualify in the interview and is not entitled to the relief sought for in the Writ Petition.

In the result, in my view the petitioner is entitled to the relief sought for in the writ petition which is allowed in the light of discussions made above. The viva voce result of the petitioner dated 16.02.2015 showing him as ‘unsuccessful’ shall stand quashed. The respondents shall declare the result of the petitioner for appointment to MJS Grade I as per discussion made in this judgment forthwith and in any case within four weeks. In the peculiar facts of the case, in my view, a decision for appointment of petitioner to MJS Grade I with retrospective effect after a reasonable period from date of the viva voce result which was 16.02.2015 or say w.e.f. 01.04.2015 should be communicated to the petitioner within the aforesaid period of four weeks. In case petitioner is offered the appointment and joins the service, he would get wages by way of salary etc. only from the date he starts working on the post. For the past period he would be entitled only for notional benefits of increment and length of service for pensionary benefits, as and when occasion arises in future. The writ petition of the petitioner succeeds accordingly. The petitioner is held entitled to a cost of Rs.50,000/-.

32. For the foregoing discussions, the petitioner is not entitled to the relief sought for. In the result, the Writ Petition is dismissed.

………………………..J. [R. BANUMATHI] New Delhi;

Since there is a difference of opinion between us in view of the dissenting judgments pronounced by us, the matter may be placed before appropriate Bench for final adjudication after obtaining permission of Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India.

October 07, 2016.