Dr. Adil Aziz vs Union Of India And Ors

The case set up by the petitioner, in this petition, is that the respondents invited applications for filing up the posts of Medical Officer (Assistant

Commandant) in Para Military Force and the petitioner, being fully eligible, applied for the said posts upon fulfilling all the requirements prescribed in

the advertisement notice. Besides, the petitioner also claimed to have been working on adhoc basis as a Medical Officer in the CRPF and, thus,

entitled to preference in the process of selection. It is pleaded that upon scrutiny of the applications, the petitioner, among others, was found fully

eligible for the said post and, accordingly, the respondent No.4 issued letter dated 22nd of August, 2014, whereby the petitioner was directed to appear

in the interview on 15th of September, 2014 at Composite Hospital, Chandigarh. It is contended that the said communication was posted to 92 BN,

CRPF, Wadoora, Sopore, that is where the petitioner was working as a Medical Officer on adhoc basis. The petitioner has proceeded to state that

during this period (September, 2014), the entire Kashmir Valley was engulfed in devastating floods which snatched away all the lines of

communication, as a consequence whereof, the letter whereby the petitioner was informed about the date of his interview was received by the

petitioner on 29th of September, 2014, i.e., much after the date fixed for his interview. Faced with this situation, the petitioner claims to have made

several representations before the concerned authorities, thereby seeking conduct of his interview, but these representations were not considered at all

constraining the petitioner to file the instant petition before this Court for the grant of following relief(s) in his favour:

“It is therefore prayed that the respondents be directed to interview the petitioner for the post of Medical Officer (Asstt. Commandant)

and select and appoint the petitioner on the basis of merit to be obtained in such process and the respondents be directed to give preference

to the petitioner in the selection process because of his experience in the deptt. And to this effect the writ of mandamus be issued against the

respondents. The respondents be prohibited from finalizing the selection process till the interview of the petitioner is not conducted.

Any other writ, order or direction which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit in the circumstances of the case may also be passed in favour

of the petitioners and against the respondents in the interest of justice and equity.â€​

Respondents have filed objections resisting and controverting the averments made by the petitioner in his petition. It is stated that the candidates

who had applied for the posts of Medical Officer (Assistant Commandant) in CRPF and AR were apprised of their date(s) of interview through call

letters, besides their names were also uploaded on the concerned official website, however, despite that the petitioner did not turn up on the scheduled

date of his interview at the fixed place. The petitioner approached the respondents through Commandant 92 BN, CRPF, vide fax signal No. M-V-

05/2014-92-Steno dated 29th of September, 2014, when the process of recruitment was already completed at all the four centers stating therein that

the petitioner received the admit card on 29th of September, 2014, that is much after the date of his interview, hence his interview may be conducted

on some other date. Accordingly, the petitioner, vide office fax signal No. R-3255 dated 30th of September, 2014 through Commandant 92 BN, CRPF,

was informed that the interview at all four centers have already been completed and it was thus, not possible for the respondents to reassemble the

Board of Officers to conduct the interview of the petitioner. In the end, the respondents have urged that the petition of the petitioner, being devoid of

any merit, deserves to be dismissed.

Heard learned counsel for the parties, perused the pleadings on record and considered the matter.

When this matter was taken up for consideration on the very motion hearing, i.e., on 10th of October, 2014, this Court, while issuing notice to the

respondents, directed that the selection process initiated to fill up the post of Medical Officer (Assistant Commandant) in question shall not be finalized

till next date before the Bench.

It is an admitted fact, as emerges from a perusal of the pleadings on record, that the petitioner applied for the post of Medical Officer (Assistant

Commandant) in the respondent Department and, upon scrutiny of the applications received in this behalf, was found eligible for participation in the

selection process initiated by the respondent Department. It is also not in dispute that the petitioner was, vide communication dated 22nd of August,

2014, informed that he has been found eligible to appear for Interview/ Medical Examination for the post(s) in question for which the date was fixed

as 15th of September, 2014 at Composite Hospital, Chandigarh, ITBP, PO-SEEMANAGAR (near Airport), Chandigarh (UT)-160003, however, the

petitioner could not appear in the Interview on the scheduled date. The only ground supplied by the petitioner for not being able to appear in the

Interview so fixed by the respondent Department is that the entire Kashmir Valley was hit by the devastating floods in September, 2014 which

snatched away all the lines of communication for a long period of time, thereby disabling the petitioner to, firstly, get the knowledge of the date of his

Interview on time and his subsequent appearance in the Interview on the scheduled date and time.

The occurrence of the floods of 2014 in the entire Kashmir Valley, which occurred from 7th-8th of September, 2014 onwards and caused great

havoc, is known to one and all, besides being very well documented. The said floods left their devastating impact for a long period of time in the entire

Kashmir Valley and almost every means of communication remained affected. The communication issued by the respondent Department to inform

the petitioner about the date and place of his Interview is claimed to have been issued on 22nd of August, 2014 and the aforesaid floods occurred right

thereafter from 7th-8th of September, 2014 onwards thus, there is every possibility that the said communication might not have reached the petitioner

on time. Furthermore, on the date on which the Interview of the petitioner was scheduled, i.e., on 15th of September, 2014, the entire Kashmir Valley

was submerged in the devastating floods and almost every means of communication was affected. The pleadings on record make it axiomatic that as

soon as the situation improved in the Kashmir Valley post the occurrence of floods, the petitioner approached the respondents, thereby apprising them

of the whole situation and sought Interview for the post in question on some other date. Viewed in this factual context, the Court is of the opinion that

the petitioner appears to have projected a genuine reason for his non-appearance in the Interview on the scheduled date and place and that he had

rightly sought interview on some subsequent date which was not considered by the respondents.

In view of the preceding analysis, the petition of the petitioner has substance, as such, same is allowed. Consequently, the respondents are directed

to get the petitioner interviewed for the post of Medical Officer (Assistant Commandant) after giving him prior notice and, thereafter, finalize the

selection for the post(s) in question in accordance with the merit position of the competing candidates, including the petitioner. Since, a lot of water has

flown down the Jhelum from the date of conduct of interview of the other competing candidates, the respondents are directed to conclude the

aforesaid exercise expeditiously, preferably within eight weeks from today.

Writ petition disposed of as above. This shall also dispose of any pending Miscellaneous Application connected with this case.