IMPORTANT POINT
Appointment – A Candidate concerned had applied without demur and also furnished a declaration with regard to correctness of details provided, he cannot thereafter turn around to seek alteration of position to detriment of others.

JUDGMENT :

A.S. BOPANNA, J.

1. The appellant-Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission is assailing the order dated 08.11.2019 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in W.A. No. 474 of 2019. Through the said order the learned Division Bench of the High Court has dismissed the intra-court appeal filed by the appellant herein. In doing so, the learned Division Bench has affirmed the order dated 03.01.2019 passed by the learned Single Judge of that Court in W.P. No. 20855 of 2017. The learned Single Judge, had thereby allowed the writ petition and directed the respondents in the writ petition, which included the appellant herein to consider the case of respondent No. 1 herein for appointment on the post of the Chief Municipal Officer (‘CMO’ for short) Grade-Kh, Assistant Director or any other post mentioned by the respondent No. 1 in his preference letter.

2. The facts in a nutshell are that the appellant issued an advertisement No. 2 dated 17.03.2016 inviting online application from eligible candidates for the State Service Examination 2016 for the various category of posts under the State of Madhya Pradesh in different departments. The advertisement was exhaustive providing detailed information and it clearly indicated the eligibility criteria. The last date for submitting the application was shown as 14.04.2016 and the preliminary examination was scheduled to be held on 29.05.2016. The educational qualification and other criteria were the same for all the posts advertised except the age limit being different as specified. That apart, for the posts of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Assistant Jail Superintendent and Deputy Transport Inspector, specific Physical Measurement was indicated as the minimum eligibility criteria. Therefore, the candidates satisfying the eligibility criteria could choose their order of preference to the various posts that were advertised.

3. The respondent No. 1 submitted his application and had shown his order of preference. The second preference shown was for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police, which could have been opted by a candidate if the candidate satisfied the minimum required physical measurement. Pursuant to such applications, the preliminary examination and the written examination was conducted. The respondent who had applied under the Scheduled Caste (‘SC’ for short) category had secured 892 marks out of 1575 marks. The marks obtained by the respondent No. 1 was not sufficient in the order of merit to be selected for the post as per his first preference, namely Deputy District Collector. However, the marks secured was sufficient to be placed in the merit list for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police. Accordingly, the respondent No. 1 was included in the main list for the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police by the appellant. In compliance with the remaining formalities for appointment the respondent No. 1 appeared before the Medical Board when it was found that his height was only 162 cms. as against the prescribed minimum height of 168 cms. The respondent No. 1 was therefore not eligible to be appointed to the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police.

4. It is in the above backdrop the respondent No. 1 approached the High Court since as per the appointment made to the other posts it revealed that a schedule caste candidate who had secured 892 marks was appointed to the post of CMO. The respondent No. 1 having shown his subsequent preference for CMO in his application form claimed that in such event he having obtained 892 marks was entitled to be appointed in the post of CMO. The learned Single Judge having accepted such contention had allowed the writ petition and directed consideration. The learned Division Bench approved the same. It is in that circumstance the appellant, which is the authority saddled with the responsibility of undertaking the selection process is