JUDGMENT :

Heard Mr. Tayum Son, learned counsel, appearing on behalf of the petitioner. Also heard Ms. Riyum Basar, learned Government Advocate, appearing on behalf of Respondent No. 1; Mr. Gimi Tarak, learned standing counsel, Rural Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, appearing on behalf of the State Respondents No. 2 to 5; and Mr. Khoda Tari, learned counsel, appearing on behalf of private Respondent No. 6.

2. In this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, namely, Miss Goda Nazak, has put to challenge the order, dated 29.05.2018, issued by the Superintending Engineer (Coord.), Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Rural Works Department, Itanagar, vide Memo. No. RWD/Coord./Estt./843/2018, by which the private respondent No. 6 has been appointed to the post of Lower Division Clerk-cum-Computer Operator.

3. The factual background leading to the filing of the present writ petition is, adumbrated, as under:-

The Respondent No. 4 viz. the Superintending Engineer-cum-Coordination, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Rural Works Department, Itanagar, vide Advertisement No. RWD/Cord./Estt/Advt-582/2017-18, dated 22.02.2017, has invited applications from the intending candidates for filling-up 1(one) post of Lower Division Clerk-cum-Computer Operator out of 20(twenty) post of the Lower Division Clerk-cum-Computer Operator against the 5% quota under the meritorious sports person, under the Rural Works Department. In response to the said Advertisement, the petitioner had applied for the said post of Lower Division Clerk-cum-Computer Operator by enclosing her achievement certificates alongwith the application. The petitioner was selected and placed at Serial No. 3 of the merit list as recommended by the selection Board for the said post, she being the achiever of national level competition with silver medal in the senior category. But, she was not appointed for the said post and instead, the respondent authorities kept her in Serial No. 2 of the wait list and had selected the private respondent No. 6 who was placed at Serial No. 8 of the merit list prepared by the Board although the Respondent No. 6 did not achieve any award at any point of time, either, in the State level competition, or, in the national level competition. In view of the guidelines of the Government of India so adopted by the State Government, the private respondent No. 6 cannot be treated as meritorious sportsperson. Thereafter, in utter violation of the merit list prepared by the Selection Board, the Respondent No. 6 has been appointed as the Lower Division Clerk-cum-Computer Operator.

Being aggrieved, the petitioner filed an application through RTI Act, pursuant to which, the authority concerned had furnished, amongst others, the application form of private Respondent No. 6, wherefrom, it could be gathered that, neither, the said Respondent No. 6 ever participated in any National Level competition, nor, he had been awarded with any medals to avail the benefits under the 5% quota reserved for meritorious sportsperson. By the above information, the petitioner could further gather that her name appeared at Serial No. 3 of the merit list whereas the name of the respondent No. 6 appeared at Serial No. 8 of the merit list. In response to another RTI filed by the petitioner, the Public Information Officer-cum-Superintending Engineer, Rural Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, had furnished the copies of advertisement, in question; Recruitment Rules for the post of LDC-cum-Computer Operator; list of Selected Candidates and panel waiting list for the said post of LDC-cum-Computer Operator, Selection Board Report Sheet and panel Board, dated 25-05-2018. That apart, as per the information furnished by the Public Information Officer(PIO), Rural Works Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, in the application form for the post of LDC-cum-Computer Operator, no class-XII pass certificate has been appended by the responden