NJD vacancies arising after the expiry of a ranked list cannot be filled using the expired list.

JUDGMENT :

T.R. RAVI, J.

The 3rd and 8th petitioners in OA(Ekm)No.679 of 2017 have filed this original petition being aggrieved by the order dated 14.2.2019 passed by the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal for short), Ernakulam Bench in R.A.(EKM)No.15 of 2018 in O.A.(EKM) 679 of 2017. The petitioners along with respondents 9 to 16 in the Review Application, had filed the original application praying for directions to make appointments to the post of Lower Primary School Assistant in Ernakulam district. The petitioners had in response to the notification published on 30.12.2008 by the Public Service Commission (PSC for short), applied for the post and had participated in the written examination conducted on 12.09.2009. After completing the selection process, the PSC published the rank list on 20.04.2012. The said rank list expired on 19.10.2016. Annexure A1 in the original application is the rank list. The case of the applicants was that staff fixation was not being done for quite some time in the schools, resulting in several vacancies remaining unfilled. In the circumstances, the original application was filed seeking the following reliefs;

“(i) Call for the records leading to issue Ans.A9 and set aside the same.

(ii) Issue a direction to the second respondent to determine staff strength in the light of the decision reported in ILR 2016 (1) Ker 590 in the ratio of 1:30, being LP Schools.

(iii) Issue a direction to the third respondent to appoint 27 vacancies of Head Teacher now holding by the Protected Teachers.

(iv) Issue a direction to the third respondent to advice all the Assistant Educational Officers under his control to remove temporary hands on daily wage/protected Teachers and to appoint in that place from the rank list, to the extent of vacancy reported by Ans.A3.

(v) Issue a direction to the third respondent to issue appointment orders as and when advice memos are received from the fourth respondent.

(vi) Pass such other orders or direction which this Honourable Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case”

2. Earlier, on 13.10.2016, the Tribunal had issued Annexure A3 interim order in another application O.A.(Ekm)No.1338 of 2016, whereby it was directed that 112 vacancies in the post of LPSA (Malayalam) should be reported, so as to reach the office of the PSC on or before 5 pm on 18.10.2016. There was a further direction to the PSC that, steps to advise eligible candidates should be taken only after getting further orders from the Tribunal. On 09.08.2018, the Tribunal disposed of the original application directing the 3rd respondent Deputy Director of Education to report 25 vacancies to the PSC, in the proforma for reporting the substantive vacancies, with the date of occurrence of vacancies as the year 2016, as expeditiously as possible, at any rate within a period of one month from the date of production of a certified copy of the order. There is also a further direction to the 4th respondent to take steps to advice 33 candidates in total, including the 8 NJD vacancies and the abovesaid 25 vacancies, by advising eligible candidates from Annexure A1 ranked list dated 20.04.2012.

3. Even though the cause title of the original petition would indicate that this petition is filed challenging the above said final order of the Tribunal, the petitioners are really not aggrieved by the said order. Their grievance is that the above said order was modified by Ext.P7 order dated 14.02.2019, whereby the direction to advise candidates to the 8 NJD vacancies was recalled. The order dated 14.02.2019 was issued pursuant to a review application filed by three persons who were not in the ranked list and a miscellaneous application filed as M.A.No.2547 of 2018, by the PSC seeking a clarification regarding the direction to advise candidates to the 8 NJD vacancies. The reason for the Public Service Commission to seek the above said modification was that the NJD vacancies arose consequent to failure of candidates adv