IMPORTANT POINT
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for a decision by the competent authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings, and the importance of vigilance clearance in the context of considering candidature for a government position.

JUDGMENT

V. Kameswar Rao, J. - This petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayers:-

"(a) Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction thereby setting aside the letter no. 361/RC/SSB/AC(GD)/LDCE-2018/2021/4042-48 dated 23.08.2022 whereby the candidature of the Petitioner for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD), Sashastra Seema Bal has been rejected;

(b) Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction thereby directing the Respondent to approve the candidature of the Petitoner for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD), Sashastra Seema Bal;

(c) Allow the present writ petition with exemplary compensation, costs and litigation expenses in favour of the petitioner; and

(d) Pass any such order or further orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the interest of justice and in favour of the petitioner."

2. In substance, the petitioner is praying for consideration of his candidature for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD) in the Sashastra Seema Bal ('SSB', for short).

3. On November 26, 2012, the petitioner joined SSB and commenced training at Tejpur, Assam. On completion of his training, he was posted at Virpur, Bihar in the month of January, 2014 on the post of Sub-Inspector. Later in the month of April, 2018, he was transferred to Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. On June 05, 2018, he was promoted to the post of Inspector.

4. On April 22, 2022, SSB issued an advertisement for selection to the post of Assistant Commandant (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces ('CAPF', for short) through Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for the vacancy year 2018-2022. The eligibility condition for the appointment to the said post also included a candidate to have clean record of service as per Recruitment Rules prescribed by the concerned Force. In April, 2022, the petitioner had applied for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD).

5. It is his case that, he has an unblemished and uninterrupted service record and has not received any punishment during his service in the SSB. It is also his case that the Inspector General certified his Service Certificate that, "there is no vigilance/disciplinary case either pending or contemplated" against the petitioner.

6. On May 27, 2022, the Assistant Commandant (GD), SSB, Pilibhit received the name of the petitioner who had applied for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD) and the same was forwarded to check whether the petitioner had availed/not availed the chance for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD) through LDCE. In fact, on August 10, 2022, the Recruitment Branch of FHQ, all formations of SSB were asked to immediately reconcile service details and apprise about punishments awarded, if any, in respect of the 501 candidates as per list enclosed.

7. According to the petitioner, his name was at serial No.461 of the said list. On August 23, 2022, the letter issued by the Recruitment Branch, FHQ, was communicated to all formation of SSB, that the Director General, SSB, had approved the candidature in respect of 499 candidates to appear in the written examination, excluding the name of the petitioner. Aggrieved by this, the petitioner submitted a representation to the Inspector General but the same was not responded to which resulted in the filing of the present petition.

8. On the other hand, the case of the respondent is that the SSB was nominated as a Nodal Agency to conduct the LDCE for the post of Assistant Commandant (GD) for CAPFs. Reference has been made in the counter affidavit about the advertisement issued by the SSB on April 22, 2022, by circulating to all CAPFs. The FHQs, SSB, vide letter dated February 22, 2022 requested to all formations of SSB to obtain applications from eligible and willing candidates in the prescribed format from units under their control and forward them to FHQ along with DE/Vigilance clearance certificate from the appropriate authority.

A reference has been made to the eligibility conditions in the following manner:-

"The candidates should have comple