Cancellation Of Entire Selection Process Unjustified If Irregularities Curable: Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court has recently issued a comprehensive list of directions regarding a contentious recruitment process at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).The division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Navneet Kumar thereby modified the Single Judge’s verdict and opined that scrapping the recruitment advertisement or the entire selection process for Grade-IV posts would unfairly penalise genuine candidates."Therefore, this Court is of the view that reason assigned by the learned Single Judge in the impugned order cannot be said to be unjustified but taking into consideration the discussion made hereinabove and considering the fact that even there is some irregularity since the same can be cured or segregated hence cancellation of advertisement/entire selection process will be said to be at the cost of genuine candidate which cannot be said to be proper and justified otherwise for the reason that for no fault of successful candidates they are subjected to suffering, hence fresh select list is required to be prepared." It also added, "This Court in entirety of facts and judicial pronouncements, as discussed hereinabove, since is of the view that a fresh select list is required to be prepared, after segregating the candidates who have resorted to malpractice or submitted forged experience certificate, including the candidate falling under reserved Category." The bench directed the medical institute to review all candidate applications meticulously according to the original advertisement and conduct a thorough examination of experience certificates and other supporting documents. The bench also directed the respondent institute that if a candidate's experience certificate is found to be fraudulent, their candidacy should be immediately rejected, and legal action should be pursued against such candidates if necessary.The above ruling was delivered in a Letters Patent Appeal, which was directed against the judgment/order passed by the Single Judge which cancelled the entire selection process initiated in terms of Advertisement No. 955(c) with a direction upon RIMS to consider the cases of the petitioners for their appointment on Grade-IV posts in view of terms and conditions of appointment as mentioned in the advertisement if there was no other legal impediments and issue offer of appointment in favour of petitioners.FactsIn 2019, three advertisements dated 08.03.2019 were published for the recruitment of Grade-III Technical and Non-Technical posts, as well as Grade-IV posts. The writ petitioners had applied for the Grade-IV positions based on Advertisement No. 955 (c). Following a thorough review of the applicant's documents and credentials, the appellants-RIMS released a list of selected candidates on 20.10.2020, which included the names of the petitioners.However, despite their names being on the final list of selected candidates, they did not receive any official appointment offers. Expressing their concern, they submitted a representation on 05.01.2021 to the RIMS, but their plea went unanswered.Subsequently, in June 2021, the petitioners were surprised to learn about an order issued by the Secretary of the Department of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, Government of Jharkhand. This order, issued in light of a directive from the Department of Personnel, Government of Jharkhand, referred to a court order in Soni Kumari & Ors. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors and announced the cancellation of the recruitment process for Grade-IV posts that had been initiated under Advertisement No. 955 (c) dated 08.03.2019. Additionally, the order instructed the issuance of a new advertisement for fresh recruitment.Aggrieved by this, the petitioners moved the High Court and the Single Judge ruled in favour of the petitioners, overturning the decision to cancel the entire selection process that had been set in motion based on Advertisement No. 955(c). Issues(I) Legitimacy of Cancellation: Is the cancellation of the entire selection process, as per Advertisement No. 955(c), justified on the basis of certain reported irregularities by the authorities?(II) Validity of Cancellation: Can the decision to annul the complete selection process under Advertisement No. 955(c) be considered appropriate, even if there is evidence of oversight regarding the inclusion of candidates from the "EWS" category or the adherence to the reservation roster?(III) Feasibility of Rectification: Can the oversight regarding the consideration of candidates from the EWS category or the reservation roster be rectified at this stage by generating a fresh list based on the submitted applications, without necessitating the cancellation of the initial advertisement?(IV) Segregation of Candidates: Is it possible to differentiate candidates who are accused of employing unfair practices from genuinely honest candidates?(V) Balancing Legality and Fairness: Does the potential wrongdoing of the authority in accepting erroneous...

Cancellation Of Entire Selection Process Unjustified If Irregularities Curable: Jharkhand High Court

Bhavya Singh

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