Srinagar: In an extraordinary judgment, the J&K High Court today asked the J&K Public Service Commission (PSC) to recommend seven female candidates – whose selection had been thwarted earlier — to the government for appointment as range officers in the Forest department.
Justices Rajnesh Oswal and Rahul Bharti in their judgment observed that a relevance serving opening to their judgment caught the contour of the case at the outset. With respect to an employment/recruitment in/to public service, a prescribed physical standard in terms of height and chest measurement cannot be gender neutral without bearing any distinction between two sexes i.e. male and female.
“Whether on that basis seven (7) female candidates, who competed amongst 567 contestants to come out fully qualified on the basis of written test, interview and walk test so as to figure in final selection list of 28 candidates against 44 posts under selection, can be faltered at the last step to appointment just because their height is found to be short by few inches to the a gender prescribed height standard,” the bench asked.
It held that these seven candidates should not have been made or held hostage by the JKPSC (as being a constitutional body) to a “discriminatory, unfair, unreasonable and unintelligible” height requirement.
“JKPSC should have been left for the government of UT of J&K to address its discernment and discretion in favour of seven candidates by exercise of its rule relaxing power and appoint them as Range Officers Grade-I “who at the end of day are the merit makers making the Jammu & Kashmir Forest Gazetted Service to get for the very first time in its history induction of eight women officers borne out of single selection process,” said the court.
The court finally reckoned that the ends of justice would be served by directing the JKPSC to consider recommending for appointment the names of the seven candidates to the government of J&K at the first instance on account of their merit-based and proved claims.
It also directed the Government of UT of J&K having the executive power as well as the power under rule 4 of the J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1956 to relax the rigor of any service rule, to consider accepting JKPSC recommendation with respect to the seven candidates and granting appointment to them as Range Officer Grade-I by relaxing the height requirement in their favour in acknowledgement of their meritorious position in the selection process.
