Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, July 17: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has reserved its verdict challenging the advertisement notice for mentioning the condition that only 12th pass aspirants can apply for the Class IV posts.
The notice advertisement dated 26-6-2020 came to be challenged by the aggrieved candidates to the extent of laying condition therein that “any candidate having qualification other than prescribed shall not be eligible for the post in question”.
“Senior Advocate Altaf Haqqani during arguments of the case informed the Tribunal that according to the information of the applicants, the question of declaring the candidates with qualifications higher than Matric and 10+2 as ineligible was considered by the Government of J&K in Law Department, causing issuance of a communication by the Under Secretary to Government, Consumer Affairs and PD Department to Director concerned vide No. CAPD/ Class-IV/Estt/115/2008 dated 10-9-2013”, read the plea.
The communication provides that “Department is advised that higher qualification cannot be a bar for applying for the post. Barring higher qualification is illegal and violation of Constitutional rights”.
All the aggrieved applicants besides having passed Matric and 10+2 course of study through the J&K Board of School Education have as well undergone and secured higher qualifications of Graduations/Post-Graduations in different fields of Education.
That, in terms of the aforesaid advertisement notice No. 1 of 2020 dated 26-6-2020, the Services Selection Board has invited applications for making appointment to 8575 Class-IV post in the District/ Divisional/Union Territory.
The advertisement has been provided to be regulated under J&K Appointment to Class-IV (Special Recruitment) Rules, 2020 and amongst others prescribes the condition of qualification at item 6 as “Minimum Matric and Maxmimum. 10+2” to which the applicants are aggrieved of which postulates that any candidate having qualification other than prescribed shall not be eligible for Class-IV.
That, being fully eligible to apply for appointment to Class-IV posts as advertised, the applicants through their senior advocate Altaf Haqani argued that they strictly follow the procedure for filling online application forms for appointment to Class-IV posts as available on the official website of the JKSSB.
The applicants having higher qualification have been informed that they are not eligible for this job profile. The applicants , however, undertook that in the event of Tribunal so directing, they shall produce such application forms as well for consideration of the Tribunal.
Advocate Haqani submitted that the applicants have been declared as ineligible solely for the reason of having possessed qualifications higher than the maximum qualification of 10+2 as prescribed by the advertisement.
Referring to the previous such kind of advertisement notices by the Government, Tribunal has been apprised that those notices as to well provided the minimum and maximum qualification for appointment to Class-IV posts as Matric and 10+2 as prescribed vide SRO 99 of 2008 with a further condition that no additional weight-age shall be given to higher qualifications.
The advertisement notice has been challenged on the ground that the impugned condition as laid in the advertisement notice is unreasonable and irrational smacking of arbitrariness and causing serious infraction of the mandate of fairness in the matters of public employment as enshrined by Articles 14 and 16 of Constitution of India by denying the Constitutional right of consideration of the applicants.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
