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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CHAKRADHARI SHARAN SINGH, J.
Jaydeep Kumar Abhay Son of Nagar Jeet Singh - Petitioners
Versus
The State of Bihar through the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, Patna. - Respondents
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8389 of 2021
Decided On : 02-02-2022
BPSC - Age Relaxation in Civil Services Examination - Rule 4 of Bihar Civil Services (Executive Branch) Rules, 1951 - [Rule 4 of the Rules] - The court discussed the provisions of Rule 4 of the Rules, which permits holding of a common competitive examination for a particular year or years for which examination could not be held annually. The third proviso to Rule 4 prescribes that if a common competitive examination is being conducted for a particular year or years as a special case, the applicant shall be entitled to relaxation of upper age limit provided the applicant was eligible in that particular recruitment year for which the common competitive examination is being conducted. The court emphasized that age relaxation cannot be granted de hors the statutory prescription and that the selection process is governed by respective service rules.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioners sought age relaxation to participate in the upcoming 67th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) due to the BPSC's failure to conduct CCE examination annually, resulting in hardship for the petitioners. The BPSC had held common CCEs for multiple years, and the petitioners had already availed several attempts in previous examinations.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the petitioners had opportunities to participate in the examinations held by the BPSC from 40th CCE to 65th CCE and had not been able to make out a case that they could not participate in any examination due to becoming over-aged. The court concluded that the petitioners had not suffered any loss due to the absence of age relaxation in the advertisement for the 66th CCE.
Issues: The main issue was whether the petitioners were entitled to age relaxation to participate in the 67th CCE due to the BPSC's failure to conduct CCE examination annually.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized that age relaxation cannot be granted de hors the statutory prescription and that the selection process is governed by respective service rules. It also noted that the petitioners had opportunities to participate in previous examinations and had not been able to make out a case that they could not participate in any examination due to becoming over-aged.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the application, finding no merit in the petitioners' claim for age relaxation and emphasizing that the petitioners had not suffered any loss due to the absence of age relaxation in the advertisement for the 66th CCE.
JUDGMENT :
The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC for short) came out with an advertisement for conducting 66th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination on 16.09.2020. The Cut-off-date for determination of maximum qualifying age had been fixed as 01.08.2020. The petitioners have admittedly crossed the upper age limit as on the said cut-off-date. It is their case that the BPSC has not been able to perform its duty of conducting the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE for short) on annual basis and it was taking about 4-5 years on and average to issue an advertisement for appointment to the aforesaid civil services in the State of Bihar. This resulted into combining of many competitive examinations into one, through a single advertisement. Accordingly, 40th to 42nd common CCE was held in 2007, 53rd to 55th common CCE was held in 2011, 56th to 59th common CCE was held in 2014 and 60th to 62nd common CCE in the year 2016. Thereafter, 63rd, 64th, 65th CCEs have been admittedly held on annual basis through advertisements issued in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively.
2. As has been noticed at the outset, advertisement for 66th CCE came to be issued by the BPSC in 2020. The petitioners, in the present writ application, are seeking a direction to the respondents to grant appropriate age relaxation to enable them to participate in the upcoming 67th CCE, primarily on the ground of failure on the part of BPSC to conduct CCE examination annually and thereby causing hardship to the petitioners because they missed to get adequate number of chances to appear in the examination.
3. The petitioners have disclosed in paragraph 6 of the writ petition, number of attempts availed by them in the previous examinations held by the BPSC. Relevant part of paragraph-6 is being reproduced hereinbelow :
ii. That the petitioner number 2 qualified in the Preliminary Examination in 48th to 52nd, 53rd to 55th, 56th to 59th, 60th to 62nd Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination and participated in the Main examination. He also cleared the Main examination in 53rd to 55th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination and participated in the interview but could not be finally selected. Thereafter he has participated in Preliminary Examination of 63rd, 64th and 65th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination. The aforesaid petitioner belongs to SC Category.
iii. That the petitioner number 3 participated in the Preliminary Examination of 53rd to 55th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination. Thereafter he qualified in the Preliminary Examination of 56th to 59th, 60th to 62nd 63rd and 64th Combined Competitive Examination and participated in the main Examination. The aforesaid petitioner belongs to General Category.
iv. That the petitioner number 4 participated in the Preliminary Examination of 48th to 52nd, 53rd to 55th, 56th to 59th, 60th to 62nd and 64th Combined Competitive Examination. The aforesaid petitioner belongs to EBC Category.
v. That the petitioner number 5 participated in 60th to 62nd, 63rd and 65th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination but could not proceed after the Preliminary Examination. The aforesaid petitioner belongs to EBC Category.
vi. That the petitioner number 6 participated in 53rd to 55th, 56th to 59th, 60th to 62nd Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination and cleared the Preliminary Examination in 56th to 59th Combined Competitive Examination and appeared for Main examination. The aforesaid petitioner belongs to General Category.
vii. That the petitioner number 7 participated in 53rd to 55th, 56th to 59th, 60th to 62nd, 63rd and 64th Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination and could not succeed in the Preliminary Examination. T
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