Point of Law: It is well settled that rules of the game, the criteria for selection cannot be altered in the middle or after the process of selection has commenced.

ORDER :

The only thing left in the selection process was issuance of appointment letters in favour of the selected persons i.e. the three petitioners herein. At that stage, the respondents cancelled the entire selection process, giving cause of action to the petitioners to invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court.

2. After hearing learned counsel on both the sides and on going through the pleadings of parties, the admitted factual position that emerges is :-

2(i). On 12.07.2021, Station Headquarters Shimla (respondent No.4) ordered the Board of Officers to publish advertisement for recruitment of 3 Firemen against NACs in national and local newspapers. The recruitment notice was accordingly published on 21.07.2021 in ‘The Times of India’ & ‘Himachal Jagran’. Applications were invited in this notice from eligible male candidates for the three posts of Firemen. Two out of these three posts were meant for General category candidates and one was reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes category. The eligibility criteria was also laid down in the advertisement.

2(ii). The petitioners applied for the post in question under the advertisement. The Board of Officers of the respondents assembled on 12.08.2021. Total 57 applications were accepted, inclusive of 32 applications of candidates belonging to General category and 25 applications belonging to Scheduled Castes category. The proceedings held by Board of Officers were found to be in order, accepted & duly countersigned by respondent No.4-Station Commander Shimla on 14.08.2021.

2(iii) Admit cards were issued to the eligible candidates by the respondents. The petitioners were also issued admit cards on 16.08.2021. They were directed to report for undertaking physical and written test on 29.08.2021 at 304(Independent) Supply Platoon ASC at Jutogh Cantt (Shimla).

2(iv) The Board of Officers of respondents assembled at Jutogh on 29.08.2021 and conducted the selection proceedings. 49 out of 57 applicants reported. 27 candidates did not clear the physical test. 22 candidates, who cleared the physical test including the petitioners were asked to take the written test. The petitioners amongst others appeared in the written test. The Board of Officers prepared the merit-list of 22 candidates. This merit-list was found to be in order. It was accepted and duly countersigned by respondent No.4 on 09.09.2021. Based on this merit-list, the petitioners emerged meritorious candidates for the three advertised posts of Firemen and were eventually selected. Respondent No.4 also kept four candidates in reserve based on the merit-list.

2(v) Letters were issued to the petitioners on 09.09.2021 informing them of their provisional selection for the posts of Firemen. The selection was termed as provisional as the petitioners’ medical tests and other formalities including verification of their documents etc. were yet to be carried out. The petitioners were directed to report on 20.09.2021 to Station Headquarters at Shimla for purpose of their medical examination and also for checking of their documents. The petitioners complied with this direction. Their documents were verified by the respondents at Station Headquarters Shimla. Petitioners also underwent medical examination. Police verification with respect to their antecedents was also carried out. Complete board proceedings and verified documents of the petitioners were forwarded by respondent No.4 to respondent No.3 (Headquarter PH & HP(I) Sub Area) for issuance of actual appointment letters in favour of the petitioners.

2(vi) Appointment orders were not issued to the petitioners. After waiting for about three months, petitioner No.2 on 08.01.2022 wrote a letter to respondent No.5-The Administrative Commandant, Station Headquarters, Shimla requesting for indicating the time-line for their joining the posts. At that stage, the officials at Station Headquarters Shimla responded on 27.01.2022 (Annexure P-5 Colly) by saying that the competent