Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 27: The High Court has directed to put back in service the candidates in various paramilitary forces who were terminated from services on the ground that they were not entitled to age relaxation under rules as they were not domicile of J&K at the relevant point of time.
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The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) vide notification issued in January, 2015 invited applications for the posts of Constable/GD in BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, SSB, NIA, SSF and NS Recruitment and the candidates along with other also submitted their application forms in response to the aforesaid advertisement notification and also applied for seeking relaxation of five years in upper age limit as provided under Clause 4B of the notification.
The appellants were allowed to sit in the written examination. They qualified the examination and were eventually selected. They were made to undergo requisite training, however, later it was found that they were not entitled to age relaxation, for the age relaxation was applicable to the candidates (un-reserved), who were domiciled in State of Jammu and Kashmir during the period between 1st January, 1980 to 31st December, 1989.
Since these candidates were on probation, as such, the Commandant of the CAPF concerned issued show cause notices to them for termination of their services on the ground that in his opinion they were not fit for appointment in CAPF. The show cause notices were replied by the appellants and, accordingly, vide impugned termination orders passed by the competent authority, their services were terminated with immediate effect on payment of one month’s pay in lieu of one month’s notice.
The division bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Mohd Yousuf Wani quashed their termination orders with the directions to the authorities to put back these candidates in service forthwith along with all consequential benefits except monetary benefits.
The DB said that at the relevant point of time the concept of domicile was not imported to the Act of 2010 and this happened after the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 and that being the position, in the year 2015 when the advertisement notification in question was issued, we had the class of people domicile of the State of Jammu & Kashmir known as ‘permanent residents’.
“Section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir, which was then in force defines ‘permanent residents’ to mean every person who is or is deemed to be a citizen of India under the provisions of India and was on 14.05.1954 either a State Subject of Class-I or Class-II or was a person having lawfully acquired immovable property in the State had been ordinarily residing in the State for not less than ten years prior to that date”, reads the judgment.
The bench from a reading of the concept of permanent residents, as was available in the State of Jammu & Kashmir prior to the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, said it is clear that not only the persons who would strictly fall in the definition of permanent residents as given in Section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir but their children, who were born much later and even grandchildren were also entitled to issuance of certificate of permanent residents in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. Similar is the concept of domicile.
“That being the clear position emerging from reading of the Rules of 1997 along with concept of permanent residents of the State of J&K and the concept of domicile as conceptualized under the Act of 2010 and the Rules framed thereunder, the candidates whose parents were domiciled in the State of Jammu and Kashmir during the period 01.01.1980 to 31.12.1989 shall also be deemed to have domiciled during the said period in the State of Jammu & Kashmir for the purposes of availing the benefit of five years relaxation of upper age limit prescribed for recruitment to various posts process for which is initiated by the UPSC, SSC or any other Central Government Department”, DB recorded.
The court said that the Rules cannot be interpreted in a manner, which makes them unworkable and would render them redundant and the Rules making authority would not lay down Rules, which are redundant. “The object of promulgation of Rules of 1997, which have been amended from time to time is to give benefit of upper age relaxation to the candidates domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, who have suffered during a particular period”, Court added.
The domicile certificate, court said, to which the reference has been made in the Rules of 1997 and advertisement notification in question is domicile certificate to be issued by the competent authority of the Government of Jammu & Kashmir and the domicile certificates issued in favour of the candidates by the competent authority are in pursuance of Notification No.15012/7/91-Estt(D) dated 09.11.1996 issued by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel & Training), New Delhi) as received from General Administration Department vide letter No.GAD/(MTG)RB/81/83 dated 22.11.1996.
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