Point of Law: Mere pendency of an order of reference, will not have the effect of disturbing the ratio decidendi therein, this Court as a High Court is obliged to follow the said dictum.

JUDGMENT :

ALEXANDER THOMAS, J.

1. Ext.P1 final order dated 13.10.2020 rendered by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ernakulam Bench in O.A. No. 718 of 2018, filed by the sole respondent herein, is under challenge before us in this Original Petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, at the instance of the Union of India and another/respondents in the O.A.

2. Heard Sri. Shivshankar R. Panicker, learned Senior Central Government Standing Counsel, appearing for the petitioners in the OP/R1 and R2 in the O.A. and Sri. P. Nandakumar, learned counsel appearing for the 1st respondent in the OP/sole applicant in the O.A. before the Tribunal.

3. The parties will be essentially referred with reference to their status in the Original Application filed before the Tribunal, for the sake of convenience. The 1st respondent herein will be described as the “original applicant or applicant” and the petitioners herein will be described as the “respondent authorities” for short and convenience. The expression “Other Backward Classes” and “Non Creamy Layer” will be referred for short as “OBC” and “NCL” respectively and “Civil Service Examination” will be referred for short as “CSE.” The paper book of this O.P. will be referred for short as “Paper Book” or “PB.”

4. The question raised in this proceedings is as to whether the original applicant, who belongs to OBC and whose mother and deceased father were appointed by the method of direct recruitment to the clerical cadre services of a State Public Sector Undertaking and the State Government service, respectively, and whose total family income, other than salaried income does not exceed the threshold limit of Rs. 6 lakhs, could be given the benefit of Non Creamy Layer status (NCL status) for the Civil Service Examination (CSE) Selection Notification, 2017, more particularly, for the Indian Police Service?

5. Our answer to this issue is in the affirmative, as already held by the Tribunal in this case. We would now proceed to deal with the factual details of this case and to give our reasonings for reaching the abovesaid conclusion.

6. Though the applicant has raised the disputes in the O.A. with reference to two selection years, viz. the CSE Selection Notification 2016 as well as the CSE Selection Notification 2017, we are confining our consideration mainly for the Selection Notification 2017, as already done by the Tribunal.

7. The original applicant was an applicant for both the CSE Selection Notification 2016 (Ext.P4) as well as the CSE Selection Notification 2017 (Ext.P5). In the 2016 selection process, the applicant had secured All India Rank No. 540 and for the year 2017, he had been duly assigned All India Ranking position of 620. There is no dispute that the applicant belongs to Other Backward Community (OBC). The only dispute raised in this case is as to whether he is entitled to get the benefit of NCL status for the selection year 2017. The applicant has passed MBBS Degree and has also secured Post Graduate Diploma in Anesthesiology. He has been allotted the Indian Defence Accounts Service, by treating him as a general merit candidate for the CSE selection year 2016. The specific contention of the applicant is that if his NCL status had been duly granted by the respondent authorities, then he would have been definitely included in Annexure-A7 service allocation list of CSE 2017, between S. Nos. 567 and 568 and that, consequently would have been eligible and entitled to be allotted the Indian Police Service (IPS) as an OBC candidate for the CSE 2017.

8. For the sake of convenience, we would extract the prayers made by the applicant in Ext.P2 O.A. which read as follows:

“(i) To declare that the applicant is eligible for OBC Non-Creamy Layer status and for allocation to the Indian Police Service as per his rank obtained in the Civil Service Examinations for the year 2