IMPORTANT POINT : Cancelling a proper selection based engagement of a person to a public post and his consequent serving duty as well on the pretext that the person had come to report his joining after delay of few days, cannot be countenanced.

Judgement :

Heard learned counsel for the parties in support of their respective position in the case.

2. This case bears a recurring scenario engaging the time and energy of the constitutional courts in dealing with cases of habitual disposition of and on the part of administrative and public officials /authorities in the matter of passing orders, bearing legal effects and civil consequences, which more often than not fail to withstand scrutiny at first sight of the Rules of Natural Justice and Rule of Law thereby leaving the real situation/ matter, meant to be dealt with by prudent decision, as an actual loser in the ultimate analysis and in the process consuming the time and energy and effort both on the part of aggrieved one and the adjudicating one. Cancelling a proper selection based engagement of a person to a public post and his consequent serving duty as well on the pretext that said person had come to report his joining after delay of few days of the period given for joining is the issue in the present writ petition and the impugned decision is found offending the test of Rules of Natural Justice.

3. Pursuant to a government policy embodied in Govt. Order no. 141-Edu(YSS) of 2017 dated 27.10.2017, aiming to address the needs of physical fitness of the school children in the government schools put into effect and operation by the Govt. of the State of J&K, a selection advertisement notice no. 01 of 2018 dated 10.01.2018 was issued by the respondent no. 3 – Youth Services & Sports Officer, Doda as Member-Secretary for Engagement of Rehbar-e-Khel. This advertisement notice is annexed with the writ petition as annexure-III. Engagement of person/s as Rehbar-e-Khel was to be on honorarium basis in the Department of Youth Services & Sports, Govt. of J&K. This particular advertisement was for Doda District in which ten Zones were identified for 196 positions of Rehbar-e-Khel.

4. The petitioner, holding requisite qualifications, competed for his selection by facing the selection process and came to be selected as Rehbar-e-Khel for Zone Gundanan, district Doda to find his name in the final provisional select list dated 30.01.2019 published in the Kashmir Times, a local English daily newspaper of 04.02.2019. A fact begs to be kept in mind that for the purpose of competing in the selection process, the petitioner had come from Oman (Muscat) where he had been then serving an employment as a Cashier in a Hotel since February, 2017 and had gone back after competing in the selection while the selection list came to be published on 04.02.2019.

5. A formal composite order of engagement of all the selectees came to be issued by the respondent no. 1 – the Director General, Youth Services & Sports Department, Govt. of J&K. In terms of this order the production of documents as enlisted in the said order was required for the purpose of joining of the selectees before the District Youth Services & Sports Officer, Doda.

6. As the petitioner was outside India working for his livelihood when the said order of engagement dated 27.02.2019 came into picture, so upon knowing that from his father the petitioner had engaged himself from that very moment in an exercise to get himself relieved from his employment in Oman (Muscat), which surely was not to happen at the drop of a hat. Thus the petitioner, acting through his father, had submitted his joining related documents before the District Youth Services & Sports Officer, Doda.

7. In terms of the requirements enlisted in the said composite order of engagement, requirement no. 15 had required that the selected candidate shall join his/her duties within a period of 21 days. The petitioner came to report for duty on 26.03.2019 after he had reached back India on 25.03.2019. Thus, instead of joining duty within 21 days, the petitioner had joined duty on 26th day from the day next to the date of issuance of engagement order dated 27.02.2019. The petitioner’s joining was accepted and he had come to assume h