Jharkhand High Court Upholds JPSC's Allocation Decision For Reserved Category Candidates In Administrative Service Cadre

In a recent ruling, the Jharkhand High Court rejected multiple appeals filed by candidates seeking special consideration under the reserved category for positions in the Jharkhand Administrative Service cadre. The appeals were directed against the common order passed by a Single Judge of the High Court in analogous cases.The court upheld the decision made by the Single Judge, stating that the petitioners did not meet the specialized subject graduation requirement mentioned in condition no.3 of the advertisement issued by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) under Advertisement No.23 of 2016. Despite this, the JPSC chose not to cancel their candidature but considered their applications under the reserved category, placing them based on merit.A division bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Navneet Kumar observed, “We have examined the decision of the JPSC in the light of the very object and intent of the interest of the candidate belong to the scheduled caste category and since those candidates have not done graduation in the specialized subject as per the note as contained under condition no.3 of the advertisement, hence, if in that circumstances, the JPSC has taken decision instead of cancelling their candidature rather to consider their candidature under the reserved category and placing them as per the merit and by virtue of which they have been Jharkhand Administrative Service Cadre, it cannot be said to be unjustified.”“It requires to refer herein again that in view of clause-8 based upon which the policy decision of the Personnel Department of the State of Jharkhand, it is not available for the writ petitioners to take the ground that any right has been said to be conferred under Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India since the State under the enabling provision as enshrined under Article 16(4) has not made out any policy decision for migration of such candidate to be treated under the reserved category and in that view of the matter if the decision has been taken by the JPSC not to migrate the said candidate who have secured marks at par with the open category candidates under the reserved category, it cannot be said to suffer from error,” the bench added.FACTSIn light of the factual context of the case, the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) issued Advertisement No.23 of 2016 to fill 326 vacancies as per the State's requisition for various services and categories.The petitioners in this case belonged to a reserved category and achieved higher marks than candidates within their own category. However, despite their superior performance, they were treated on par with candidates in the open merit (UR) category and were allocated positions in the Jharkhand Information Service, Planning Service, and Finance Service Cadres.The main concern of the petitioners before the court was that, even though they had outperformed the last selected candidates in the Jharkhand Administrative Services Cadre, they were allocated different services under the open category (UR) instead of being recognized as part of the reserved category.Their grievance revolved around the perceived injustice of being treated unfairly due to their hard work and achieving scores equivalent to those in the open category. It was contended that they should have been considered under their respective reserved category, particularly in the case of the Jharkhand Administrative Service Cadre, given that candidates from the Scheduled Caste and other reserved categories who scored lower than the petitioners had been allocated positions in the Jharkhand Administrative Service Cadre.As their concerns remained unaddressed, the petitioners filed the writ petitions seeking redressal. The writ petitions were heard by a Single Judge and by considering the condition stipulated under clause 8 of the advertisement which was based upon the executive instructions issued by the Personnel Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha Department as well as various pronouncements of the Apex Court wherein consideration was given to Article 16 (4) of the Constitution, the single-judge had dismissed the writ petitions. resulting in the present appeal.VERDICTThe division bench observed that under the rules of executive business, the Personnel Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha Department is the Nodal Department to frame rules and once they had been framed, the same had to be followed by other departments, in view of the said rule being exercised under Article 166(3) of the Constitution.Additionally, the Court observed that the State had made a policy decision on 31.10.2011, stating that candidates who scored marks equivalent to those of open-category candidates would be considered under the open category. This policy allowed room for other reserved category candidates to avail the benefits of reservation.The Court highlighted that the petitioners had secured marks equal to those of the last selected candidate in the open category and possessed the...

Jharkhand High Court Upholds JPSC's Allocation Decision For Reserved Category Candidates In Administrative Service Cadre

Bhavya Singh

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