The allocation of marks for the interview and the requirement of minimum qualifying marks must be disclosed in the advertisement or to the candidates before the interview to ensure a fair and non-discriminatory selection process.

S. Muralidhar, J.

1. With the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties, the writ petition was taken up for final hearing on 8th August 2011.

2. Nine Petitioners, who were unsuccessful in being selected to the thirty-seven vacancies in the post of Security Assistant Grade-II ("SAG-II") in the Lok Sabha Secretariat (Respondent No. 1) and nineteen vacancies in that post in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Respondent No. 2) have filed this writ petition seeking a writ of certiorari to quash the action of the Respondents in not offering appointments to the Petitioners and for a mandamus directing the said Respondents to place the Petitioners in the merit list and offer them appointments to the said posts against available vacancies.

3. The Petitioners are working as Head Constable/Constable (Executive) in the Delhi Police for several years. Petitioner Nos. 2, 5 and 6 belong to the General category. Petitioner Nos. 1, 4, 7 and 9 belong to the OBC category. Petitioner No. 3 belongs to the Scheduled Caste ("SC") category and Petitioner No. 8 to the Scheduled Tribe ("ST") category.

4. Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 issued an advertisement, No. 4 of 2001, inviting applications from eligible candidates for various posts in Respondent Nos. 1 and 2. Serial No. 5 of the advertisement included thirty-seven vacancies in the post of SAG-II in Respondent No. 1 and nineteen vacancies in that post in Respondent No. 2. The selection procedure included physical measurement tests, field tests, descriptive type written papers and a personal interview. A candidate had to qualify every test sequentially to be eligible for the next one. For instance, only those found fit in the physical measurement test would be allowed to appear in the written examination. The written examination comprised of Paper-I, General Studies (100 marks), and Paper-II comprising of English essay, precis and grammar (100 marks). Only those who secured the minimum qualifying marks in each paper and the minimum aggregate in the written papers would be called for the personal interview.

5. The requisite standard for qualification in the written test and interview was indicated in para-15 of the advertisement as under:

Cut Off Percentage of Marks: The minimum cut off percentages of marks in Written Test and Personal Interview in an examination is 50%, 45% and 40% for vacancies in General, OBC and SC/ST categories, respectively. The above percentages are relaxable by 5% in case of physically handicapped persons of relevant disability and category for appointment against the vacancies reserved in Lok Sabha Secretariat for physically handicapped persons. These percentages are the minimum marks which a candidate is required to secure in each paper/component and aggregate in the written test and in aggregate in the personal interview. However, the cut off percentages may be raised or lowered in individual component/paper/aggregate to arrive at reasonable vacancy: candidate ratio.

6. The personal interview carried twenty-five marks. Selection was to be made on the basis of overall performance of the candidates both in the written test as well as personal interview, subject to the availability of vacancies. It was further stipulated that candidates would have to secure the minimum qualifying marks in the interview, which, according to the Petitioners, was in violation of the Lok Sabha Secretariat (Method of Recruitment and Qualification for Appointment) Amendment Order, 2007 which amended the Lok Sabha Secretariat (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1955 ("Lok Sabha Rules") and the Rajya Sabha (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2009 ("Rajya Sabha Order"). The Petitioners point out that insofar as the Lok Sabha Rules are concerned, the selection was supposed to take place through an open competitive examination from amongst candidates possessing a Bachelor's degree in any discipline and the physical standards/skills as specified in the Rules. The Lok S