The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of the doctrine of promissory estoppel in the context of the recruitment process, and the court's finding that the actions of the authorities were hit by the principle of estoppel.

JUDGMENT

Dr. B.R. Sarangi, J. - The petitioner, who belongs to Scheduled Caste category and is serving as Junior Clerk in the establishment of Collectorate, Boudh, has filed this writ petition to quash the show-cause notice dated 31.03.2015 under Annexure-13 issued by opposite party no.3 directing him to give reply within 30 days from the date of its receipt as to why his services shall not be terminated; as well as letter dated 09.02.2015 under Annexure-13/1 issued by opposite party no.2 to opposite party no.1 intimating for deletion of the name of the petitioner from the final list and his removal from service on the ground of violation of G.A. Department Notification; and the letter dated 26.03.2015 under Annexure-13/2 issued by the Joint Secretary to Govt. of Odisha, Revenue & Disaster Management Department to opposite party no.2 recommending for issuance of show-cause notice prior to termination of the petitioner from service. He further seeks direction to the opposite parties to allow him to continue as Junior Clerk as usual with all service and financial benefits, as stipulated in the appointment order under Annexure-7 dated 26.11.2013, as he was validly recruited as per the statute.

2. The facts of the case, in brief, are that opposite party no.3-Collector & District Magistrate, Boudh issued an advertisement dated 8.07.2013, captioned as 'Special Recruitment Drive for ST/SC' to fill up the vacant posts of Jr. Stenographer/Jr. Clerk/ Revenue Inspector/Assistant Revenue Inspector/Amin. So far as the vacancy position of Jr. Clerk is concerned, total vacancies were 16 and the posts were distributed as per post based roster i.e. 8 posts meant for ST, 4 posts meant for ST (W), 3 posts meant for SC and 1 post meant for SC (W). For recruitment to the posts of Jr. Clerk, the candidate shall have to appear written test and practical computer skill test as provided in appendix to Rule-10 of Odisha Ministerial Service Rules, 1985, as amended vide notification dated 12.04.2010. As per appendix, opposite party no.3 had specified in the advertisement, that the competitive examination shall consist of written test and practical skill test. The written test shall consist of paper-1 for 3 hours and paper-II for 3 hours. Each paper consists of two parts. Paper-1 consists of Part-1, Language Test (English and Oriya) and Part-II, Objective General Knowledge, carrying each 100 marks and the duration of examination was three hours. Similarly Paper-II consists of Part-1, Objective Mathematics and Part-II, Basic Computer Skill carrying each 100 marks. Total mark of written test (Paper-1 & Paper-II) was 400. The maximum mark of practical skill test i.e. Basic Computer Skill (Objective) was 50. Therefore, total maximum mark was 450 as provided under the statute. In similar manner, another advertisement dated 08.07.2013 was issued in order to fill up the posts of Junior Clerks and other posts from among the UR and SEBC category.

2.1. When the advertisement was published, the petitioner was serving as Jogan Sahayak on consolidated pay of Rs.3,500/- per month in Mathura G.P. under Panchayat Samiti Charichhak in the district of Boudh. While serving as such, he having requisite qualification, applied for the post of Jr. Clerk with required documents within the prescribed period of time. As his application was in order, opposite party no.3 issued admit card bearing his Roll No.JC-0071 instructing him to attend the written test, which was to be held on 06.10.2013 (Sunday) in Jogindra Dev High School, Boudh. Pursuant thereto, he appeared in the written test on the scheduled date and time and secured 234 marks (113 in Paper-I + 121 in Paper-II), out of total 400 marks. Taking into account the marks secured in the written test, opposite party no.3 vide letter dated 19.11.2013 asked the petitioner to appear in the computer skill test on 16.11.2013 at 10.0