Srinagar: The J&K High Court has said that merit of the candidates in a superior competitive examination must be given preference than the merit in an examination of lesser quality to the appointment for the purpose of determination of seniority.
Dismissing an appeal filed by some Patwaris against a decision by Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), the division bench comprising Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice M K Kazmi said “if merit is to be given primacy for the purpose of determination of seniority, merit of the candidates in a superior competitive examination and of more immediate relevance and proximate to the appointment as Patwari must be given preference than the merit in an examination of lesser quality and lesser relevance to the appointment as Patwari.”
The petitioners were aggrieved by the decision of the CAT which rejected their plea of determining their seniority on the basis of the select-list prepared as per results of the initial entrance examination conducted by the J&K Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE).
Nearly 1500 Patwar trainees were elected by BOPEE in 2012 after an entrance test. The selected trainees were later on required to qualify the Patwar examination to be conducted by the Financial Commissioner (Revenue). After that the qualified candidates were asked to apply to SSRB for selection as Patwari as and when the posts were advertised.
The petitioners got higher marks and were placed higher than some candidates in the select-list of the Patwar trainees. However, in the departmental examination they got marks lesser than other candidates but became eligible for appointment as Patwaris.
Meanwhile a cabinet decision was taken in July 2013 to dispense with the subsequent selection process through SSRB. It directed appointment as Patwaris directly of those who had successfully completed the Patwar training course and passed the departmental examination.
Accordingly sanction was accorded for appointment of 945 candidates as Patwaris who had successfully completed Patwar training course. Thereafter, the seniority list of the Patwaris was prepared, in which the petitioner-appellants were shown to be junior to some of the Patwaris for having secured lesser marks in the departmental examination.
The petitioners approached the CAT which upheld the procedure adopted by the government for seniority.
Subsequently they challenged the decision in the High Court. They argued “Rule 24 of the J&K Classification, Control and Appeal Rules, 1956 provides for determining seniority to be based on the merit list in terms of the initial competitive examination conducted by the BOPEE in 2012, and not on the subsequent departmental examination.”
The High Court held “in absence of a selection process/competitive examination conducted by the competent authority for appointment as Patwari from amongst the eligible candidates, namely those Patwari trainees who have successfully undergone training and passed the departmental examination, the merit position obtaining in such departmental examination has to be the basis for determining the seniority and not on the basis of merit position obtained in initial selection as Patwar trainees. This selection was only for the purpose of selecting candidates for undergoing training and not for the purpose of selection and appointment of Patwaris.”
The court opined “the course of action adopted by the department in fixing seniority based on the merit position obtained in the departmental examination cannot be said to be impermissible and illegal, rather, it stands to logic and is in conformity to the intent and purpose behind Rule 24 of the CCA Rules 1956 which gives premium and primacy to merit for determining seniority.”
