GANGTOK, India, Aug. 29 -- Sikkim High Court issued the following judgment/order on Aug. 7:
Bhaskar Raj Pradhan, J. The present writ appeal challenges the impugned judgment dated 27.06.2022 passed by the learned single Judge of this Court in Writ Petition (C) No. 10 of 2020.
2. The appellant had preferred the writ petition assailing the offer of appointment dated 10.05.2016 made to the respondent No. 4 and the appointment order dated 25.06.2016 appointing the respondent no.4 as Deputy Superintendent of Police.
3. The appellant further prayed for setting aside notification no. 106/Gen/DOP dated 02.08.2016 by which the respondent no.4 had been placed at serial no.69 while he was placed at serial no.70 in the inter-se seniority list. The appellant prayed that necessary corrections be made in the Office Order dated 03.09.2019, by which the appellant and the respondent no.4 were promoted to the posts of Additional Superintendent of Police by placing the respondent no.4 at serial no.1 instead of the appellant. The appellant further prayed that the respondents be refrained from taking steps on the Office4 Order dated 03.09.2019 and a fresh seniority list be published with necessary rectification.
4. The relevant facts necessary for deciding the present writ appeal are: on 12.09.2012, the respondent no.2 - the Sikkim Public Service Commission (for short, the SPSC), issued an advertisement for filling up 25 posts of Under Secretaries and equivalent, in the Junior Grade of the Sikkim State Civil Service (for short, the SSCS). On 27.11.2012, by an addendum thereto, two posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police were also included. There was no mention of either a panel list or waiting list. The appellant as well as the respondent no.4 along with other candidates appeared for the preliminary examination conducted by the SPSC on 20.07.2014 and the main examinations from 23.02.2015 to 26.02.2015. A combined merit list was prepared thereafter on the marks obtained in the written examination and viva-voce for the posts of Under Secretary as well as Deputy Superintendent of Police for the year 2015. In the merit list, one Barbara Lama with total marks of 475 featured just before the respondent no.4 whose total marks was 474. The appellant with 467 marks was 7(seven) places below the respondent no.4. The SPSC published the names of selected candidates vide notice dated 09.06.2015. For the posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ms Barbara Lama, was selected in the unreserved category while the appellant was selected in the reserved category of Bhutia/Lepcha (for short, BL) as per the reservation policy. The notice dated 09.06.2015 issued to the candidates who were recommended for appointment specified that their candidature was provisional subject to police verification, medical fitness and verification of all required documents by the State Government. Barbara Lama, however, was not appointed to the post on the ground that she was not entitled to the Certificate of Identification. The appellant upon receipt of his appointment vide Office Order dated 09.11.2015 joined training at the North Eastern Police Academy, Meghalaya from January 2016. His appointment vide Office Order dated 09.11.2025 stated that his inter-se seniority would be maintained as per the order of merit declared by the SPSC vide its notice no. 93/SPSC/2015 dated 09.06.2015. According to the appellant, he later came to learn of the appointment of the respondent No.4 in the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police vide Office Order dated 25.06.2016 and of the notification dated 02.08.2016, whereby in the inter-se seniority list of the Sikkim State Police Service (for short, the SSPS), respondent no.4 was placed at serial no.69 while he was placed at serial no.70, thereby making him junior to respondent no.4. The appellant then submitted a representation to the respondent no.1 on 24.10.2017. However, in response, the respondent no.1 informed him vide memorandum dated 07.04.2018 that his prayer could not be considered as the inter-se seniority was determined on merit based on the exam result declared by the SPSC. Unsatisfied, the appellant filed the writ petition on 06.03.2020.
The rest of the document can be viewed at https://hcs.gov.in/hcs/hg_orders/203600000092022_24.pdf
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
