The withdrawal of a selection process can be justified if it is not mala fide, arbitrary, or for ulterior considerations, and does not fall foul of constitutional provisions.

JUDGMENT :

1. This intra-court appeal by the appellant is directed against the judgment dated 09.07.2019 of the learned single judge [“the writ court”] passed in SWP 2528/2018, whereby the writ court has dismissed the writ petition of the appellant [“writ petitioner”].

Brief Facts

2. Vide advertisement notification No. 04 of 2015, dated 10.07.2015, the respondent Institute [“the SKIMS”] invited applications for various faculty positions, which included the post of Assistant Professor in the department of Clinical Biochemistry, from the candidates possessing the prescribed qualification. The respondent institute received as many as 16 applications, which included the application of the petitioner also.

3. The screening committee constituted by the government found the petitioner along with other candidates provisionally eligible for the post. The candidates found provisionally eligible including the writ petitioner were called in to appear before the Apical Selection Committee on 21st August, 2017.

4. While this process was on, one candidate namely Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Gatoo, filed a writ petition, SWP1512/2017, in this court. This court vide its interim order dated 3rd August, 2017 directed the respondents not to conduct the interview for the post of Assistant Professor, Clinical Biochemistry, till further orders from the court.

5. By way of a subsequent interim order dated 21st August, 2017, this court directed that the petitioner Dr.Manzoor Ahmad Gatoo, shall also be admitted to the interview and the selection process shall be concluded. There was, however, a restraint put on the declaration of result of selection until further orders from the court.

6. The Apical Selection Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, government of Jammu and Kashmir, and assisted by technical experts of the respective faculty, interviewed all the eligible candidates including the petitioner. The recommendations of the Apical Selection Committee were processed for the approval of the competent authority. However, the government constituted a Scrutinizing Committee comprising of eminent officers of the respondent institute to scrutinize the selection in question and submit its report/recommendations. This committee was constituted by the government vide government order No. 64-SKIMS 2018, dated 28th July, 2018.

7. The Scrutinizing Committee after scrutinizing the selections in the department of Clinical Biochemistry, made its recommendations as under:

8. Meanwhile, the SWP 1512/2017 filed by Prof. Manzoor Ahmad Gatoo came to be disposed of in terms of judgment dated 2nd August, 2021. The operative portion of the judgment passed in SWP 1512/2017 reads asunder:

“The petition of the petitioner is allowed and, by a 'Writ of Certiorari', the impugned communication dated 1st of November, 2016 is hereby quashed. The respondents, by a 'Writ of Mandamus', are directed to take the selection process in question to its logical conclusion by considering all the eligible candidates, including the petitioner, in tune with the merit position obtained by the said candidates”.

9. Be that as it may, the fact remains that the observations and recommendations made by the Scrutinizing Committe