"An Exceptional Case": SC Directs UPSC To Reschedule Re-Medical Examination Of A Candidate Who Missed It 9 Years Ago
The Supreme Court directed the Union Public Service Commission to reschedule the Re-Medical Examination of a candidate who unfortunately missed the same 9 years back.
The Court was hearing a Writ Petition seeking directions to the UPSC to allocate a service to the petitioner with all consequential benefits for the Civil Services Examination, 2014, on par with other similarly placed candidates in the Reserve List as well as direct a re-medical examination if required.
The bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed, “we consider it appropriate to grant a limited relief. This will be to direct the respondents to re-schedule the re-medical test that was to be conducted on 14.07.2015, which the petitioner unfortunately missed…This is an exceptional case in which we have exercised our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to do complete justice…”
Senior Advocate M.L. Varma appeared for the Petitioner and Advocate VVV Pattabhiram for the Respondents.
Brief Facts-
The petitioner, seeking employment through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), participated in the Civil Services Examination 2014, and qualified till the Interview stage. After being declared "temporarily unfit" during the medical examination, he did not appear for the re-medical test, believing the selection process was complete. However, UPSC published a reserve list that showed that candidates ranked below him were allocated services. After the Central Administrative Tribunal, Patna dismissed his application, he filed a Writ Petition before the Patna High Court. During its pendency, a similar case (Mr. K. Rajashekhara Reddy) was resolved in favour of the petitioner by the Supreme Court. Based on the precedent, the petitioner withdrew his Writ Petition and made a representation to the respondent authorities, which was denied. Hence, he filed the current Writ Petition under Article 32.
The Court said that though the petitioner was declared to be ‘temporarily unfit’ after the medical examination he was entitled to a re-examination.
“It is an unfortunate situation that the petitioner assumed that he had lost out and overlooked the chance that was provided to him on 14.07.2015, when he was called for re-examination.”, remarked the Court.
The Court said that the case of Mr. K. Rajashekhara Reddy may not be identical but there was one commonality that he also missed the medical re-examination and his prayer, similar to that of the Writ Petitioner, was accepted by the High Court. The Court further said that the SC did not interfere with the Order while exercising jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.
While allowing the re-examination the Court said that in the event the petitioner qualifies for the medical re-examination, he shall neither claim appointment in the 2014 Batch, nor will he be entitled to seniority in the Batch in which he could be appointed.
The Court further clarified that, upon clearing the re-medical, if Petitioner is to be given an appointment, his services shall commence from the date of the appointment.
Accordingly, the Court partly allowed the Writ Petition.
Cause Title: Rakshit Shivam Prakash v. Union of India (Neutral Citation: 2024 INSC 569)