JUDGMENT :

(Sandeep V. Marne, J.) :

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With consent of parties, taken up for final hearing.

2. By this petition, petitioners assail the Judgment and Order dated 5th January, 2023 passed by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal) in Original Application No.1327 of 2022. By that Judgment, the Tribunal has proceeded to dismiss Original Application No.1327 of 2022 instituted by the petitioners seeking a direction that Corrigendum dated 13th December, 2022 is not applicable to selection process initiated in pursuance of advertisement No.05/2020 published on 28th February, 2020.

3. The brief facts of the case, shorn of unnecessary details, are that advertisement No.05/2020 came to be published by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (Commission) convening the Maharashtra Sub-Ordinate Services Non-Gazetted Group B Preliminary Examination, 2020 (selection), for filling up various posts including the post of Police Sub Inspector (PSI). As per advertisement, the examination was to be conducted in four phases consisting of preliminary examination of 100 marks, main examination of 200 marks, physical test of 100 marks and interview of 40 marks. Paragraph 3.11 of advertisement indicated the possibility of modification in allotment of marks for physical test which was to be published on website of the Commission.

4. Petitioners applied in pursuance of the selection for the post of PSI. It is averred that the preliminary examination could not be conducted due to COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, proclamation dated 25th May, 2021 came to be issued by the Commission prescribing qualifying criteria of 60% marks for physical test for being eligible to appear for oral interview. It was further directed that marks obtained in physical test would not be considered toward the computation of total marks for preparation of final merit list. Proclamation dated 25th May 2021 was made applicable for examination conducted from year 2020 onwards.

5. Thereafter, the Commission conducted preliminary examination on 4th September, 2021, the result whereof was published on 3rd December, 2021. The petitioners apparently cleared the preliminary examination. The main examination was decorated on 10th December, 2021, increasing the total marks from 200 to 400 and the same was conducted on various dates from 22nd January, 2022 to 12 February, 2022. The result thereof was published on 17th November, 2022. Petitioners have apparently cleared the main written examination as well and were looking forward to appear in the physical test, under a expectation that they merely have to secure qualifying marks of 60% therein without any competitive element. At such a juncture, Corrigendum dated 13th December, 2022 came to be issued by the Commission, convening a decision not to apply provisions of proclamation dated 25th May, 2021 to the selection and further directing that the physical test for the said selection would be conducted in accordance with criteria applicable at the time of issuance of advertisement i.e. the one prescribed in February, 2018. By Corrigendum dated 13th December, 2022, the Commission also published criteria for holding physical test as per Annexures ‘A’ and ‘B’, under which it was directed that minimum qualifying marks in physical test would be 50%. Thus, two essential changes were brought about by the Corrigendum dated 13th December, 2022 qua physical test viz.:

(i) minimum qualifying marks for physical test were reduced from 60% to 50%.

(ii) the stipulation of not counting the marks obtained in physical test, as prescribed in proclamation dated 25th May, 2021, came to be deleted.

This meant that in accordance with Corrigendum dated 13th December, 2022, the marks obtained by the candidate in physical test would now be taken into consideration while computing total marks secured by the candidate for pre