Kerala Public Service Commission Can Fill Up Vacancies Arising During Currency Of Ranked List: High Court
The Kerala High Court observed that the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) can fill up vacancies arising during currency of ranked list.
The Court observed thus in a petition challenging the final order of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) by which the original application was dismissed.
A Division Bench of Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque and Justice S. Manu held, “The general principle that filling up of vacancies, more than that has been notified is illegal cannot be applied in the facts of the case at hand, in view of the above discussion. In Annexure-A4 there is specific statement that vacancies anticipated during the currency of the ranked list will also be filled up from the same. Rule 14 of the Rules of Procedure enables the Public Service Commission to adopt such a course and to fill up vacancies arising during the currency of the ranked list.”
Advocate Rekha Vasudevan appeared for the petitioner while Sr. GP A.T. Varghese represented the respondents.
In this case, the issue involved was related to the transfer/recruitment from in-service candidates to the post of Range Forest Officers in the Forest and Wildlife Department. The petitioner was working as Beat Forest Officer and he joined duty in 2011. As on the date of filing the application, the petitioner was aged 34 years and claimed to have qualifying service of 9 years, 4 months and 16 days. The KPSC notified seven vacancies of Forest Officers, namely, Wildlife Assistant, Deputy Ranger, Forester and Beat Forest Officer. It was clearly stated in the notification that the number of vacancies mentioned were provisional, subject to change according to the allotment of seats by the Director of Forestry Education, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of India and due to arising of more vacancies.
The Special Rule for the Kerala Forest service prescribes the qualification for appointment to the post of Range Forest Officer by transfer. For seeking appointment by transfer, the candidate should have minimum 5 years’ service in the feeder category post. The maximum age limit stipulated was 40 and the petitioner admittedly had not completed 5 years’ service in the feeder category when Annexure was issued. Therefore, he was not eligible to apply for appointment when the recruitment process commenced pursuant to Annexure-A4 notification. The petitioner filed application before KAT in July, 2021 after ranked list came into force in 2021. Thus, the petitioner was not eligible to take part in the selection process and that he raised no challenge against Annexure till the process was completed and the ranked list came into force.
The High Court in view of the above facts said, “… in exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 227, we cannot proceed to enlarge the scope of the litigation by considering challenges which were not raised before the Tribunal.”
The Court referred to the judgment in the case of T.Vijayakumar & others v. State of Kerala represented by the Secretary to Government, Animal Husbandry Department & others [2014 (1) KLT 186] in which it was clarified that the visitorial jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India cannot be extended to widen the scope of an original petition to include reliefs not claimed and grounds not raised before the Tribunal.
“Therefore, we cannot entertain the challenge against Rule 14 in this original petition and as long as the said Rule remains in force, we cannot find fault with the official respondents in filling up vacancies which arose during the currency of the ranked list”, it concluded.
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the petition.
Cause Title- Sijo Thomas v. State of Kerala & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:KER:35795)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocates Rekha Vasudevan, Elizabeth V.Joseph, and Rojit Zachariah.
Respondents: Sr. GP A.T. Varghese, Advocates Prasanth Sugathan, Varsha Bhaskar, Anupama Sibi, and N.Krishna Ozhakkanat.
