Involvement in criminal cases does not automatically disqualify a candidate from being considered for appointment to the post of Grade-II Police Constable. The authorities must assess the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding the acquittal, and the candidate's character and antecedents to determine their suitability for the position. Suppression of involvement in criminal cases would be viewed seriously and could lead to disqualification.

JUDGMENT :

PRAYER: Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent, to set aside the order dated 10.05.2019 made in W.P. (MD) No. 14248 of 2018 on the file of this Court and allow the Writ Appeal.

(A) FACTUAL BACKGROUND:

1. Considering the common issue involved, the above 12 Writ Appeals and 13 Writ Petitions have been tagged together and posted before the Division Bench. Out of the 12 Writ Appeals, 9 Writ Appeals have been filed by the aspirants to the post of Grade-II Police Constable challenging the order of writ Court confirming the rejection of their selection. 3 Writ Appeals have been filed by the Department challenging the allowing of the writ petitions by the writ Court with a direction to select the aspirants. 13 writ petitions filed by the aspirants challenging their rejection of selection were listed before the learned Single Judge and they have tagged to Writ Appeals and listed before the Division Bench.

2. The common issue that arises for consideration before the Division Bench is the effect of involvement of an aspirant in a criminal case for the post of Grade-II Police Constable with regard to his selection and appointment. 7 Writ Petitions relate to the selection of the year 2017, 9 Writ Petitions relate to the selection of the year 2019 and another 9 Writ Petitions relate to the selection of the year 2020.

(B) SERVICE RULES

3. Before venturing into the discussion, we would like to extract the relevant Service Rules and Judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and Full Bench of our High Court.

4. Rule 14(b) of the Tamil Nadu State Police Subordinate Service Rules is extracted as follows:

“(b) No person shall be eligible for appointment to the service by direct recruitment unless he satisfies the appointing authority that:

(i) that he is sound health, active habits and free from any bodily defect or infirmity unfitting him for such service.

(ii) that his character and antecedents are such as to qualify him for such service.

(iii) that such a person does not have more than one wife living.

(iv) That he has not involved in any criminal case before police verification.”

5. This Service Rule was put to challenge before this Court and the validity of the same was upheld by the decision of the Full Bench of our High Court in a judgment reported in Manikandan and Others vs. Chairman, Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services, 2008 (2) CTC 97.

6. The law laid down in the said Full Bench was again referred to a Larger Bench. The Larger Bench by its decision reported in J. Alex Ponseelan vs. Director General of Police, 2014 (2) CTC 337 has not only confirmed the Full Bench decision as a good law but also held that Rule 14(b)(4) together with explanation 1 and 2 of Tamil Nadu Police Subordinate Service Rules to be intra vires of the constitution.

7. After relying upon various judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, a Director General of Police has issued a communication on 22.02.2021 under which instructions have been issued to the Commissioner of Police and Superintendent of Police of the respective Districts for verification of the provisionally selected candidates. The said communication is the Office Memo in C. No. 1268/20889/Rect.II (1)/2015 dated 17.12.2015 in which Paragraph Nos. 6 to 11 are extracted as follows:

“6. All the appointing authorities are requested to go through the relevant rules, court orders (Full Judgment available in High Court website), details of criminal case, role of the candidate in that case, present stage of case, judgment delivered etc, in a careful manner and issue necessary endorsement regarding rejection of their candidature under proper acknowledgement.

7. The following points should also be considered before issuance of the endorsement:

(a) Every case has to be judged on its merits.

(b) “Honourable acquittal” restores the right of individual. Hence, honourable acquittal before the date of police verification means that the candidate must be considered favourably.

(c) A case referred on “Mistake of Fact” has to be f