Point of law : Appointment – Conduct of test - Absence of any specific mention of a descriptive test - Test conducted for the purposes of assessing the drafting and precis writing skills – Held, candidate would satisfy the requirement of Rules.

JUDGMENT :

A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

The applicants before the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram in O.A.(EKM)Nos.1717/2016, 1853/2016, 342/2017, 239/2020 and 407/2020 are the petitioners before us, aggrieved by the common order dated 21.4.2021 of the Tribunal in the said O.A's. The petitioners were all Upper Division Clerks [UD Clerks]/Head Clerks working at various State Goods and Service Tax Offices, and they were aggrieved by the appointments contemplated to the post of Assistant State Tax Officer [ASTO] in the quota earmarked for by-transfer appointments from among qualified Stenographers and UD Typists.

2. As per the Special Rules in force, appointments to the post of ASTO were to be effected by direct recruitment and by transfer from among (i) UD Clerks and Head Clerks, (ii) Stenographers/Confidential Assistants and (iii) UD Typists in the ratio 30:1:1. It is stated by the petitioners that direct recruitment, as a method of recruitment for the post, was done away with during the year 1992 with retrospective effect from 1.1.1988, and that, at present, the recruitment to the post is only through by-transfer route from among the three streams mentioned above. While there is some ambiguity with regard to whether or not the direct recruitment scheme was done away with, the said issue need not engage our attention since it does not arise for consideration in the instant cases. What is to be noted, however, is that the qualification requirements for by-transfer recruitment to the post of ASTO is different for the different streams of recruitment. Accordingly, while in the case of the first stream, namely, UD Clerks and Head Clerks, the qualification requirement stipulates (i) a pass in SSLC Standard together with (ii) a pass in Account Test (Lower) – 4 papers and (iii) a pass in the Agricultural Income Tax and Sales Tax Test -Parts I, II and III, for those in the second and third streams, namely, for Stenographers/Confidential Assistants and UD Typists respectively, the qualification requirements are that they should possess (i) a pass in SSLC Standard; (ii) a pass in Account Test (Lower) – 4 papers; (iii) a pass in the Agricultural Income Tax and Sales Tax Test -Parts I, II and III; (iv) a pass in the test conducted for the purpose by the Public Service Commission [PSC] in drafting, precis writing etc. and (v) should have worked as UD Clerk at least for a period of one year satisfactorily.

3. It would appear that in an appeal filed by a group of Confidential Assistants/UD Typists claiming appointment as ASTO, the Government, vide its order dated 27.10.2016, clarified that (i) the ratio of 30:1:1 is to be applied for the total cadre strength and not on the number of vacancies; (ii) any cross appointment made in excess of the quota in the absence of eligible hands in any other channel can be considered only as a stop-gap arrangement; (iii) appointees in excess of their quota cannot claim seniority based on such appointments; (iv) no one can claim seniority in the vacancies that arose for them in the respective quota; and (v) qualified Confidential Assistants/UD Typists must be posted as UD Clerks for gaining work experience and they should be appointed by transfer as ASTO in their proportionate quota. The said order of the Government was impugned in the O.A's preferred by Head Clerks/UD Clerks mainly relying on the provisions of Note (3) to Rule 5 of Part II of the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules [KS & SSR]. The contention was essentially that the ratio of 30:1:1 had to be applied to vacancies that arose in the post of ASTO and not to the cadre strength. The further challenge in the O.A's was with regard to the manner in which the PSC had held the eligibility test for considering the promotion of Stenographers/Confidential Assistants and UD Typists. It was contended that inasmuch as the Special Rules mandate inter alia that a test had to be conducted by the PSC in drafting, precis writing etc., the o