JUDGMENT

Rajbir Sehrawat, J. (Oral)

The idiom: ignorance is a bliss. Thomas Gray, who coined this idiom way back in 1768 in his poem to highlight the fact that it is a blessing in disguise for man that he is ignorant about future events and this ignorance gives the person an occasion to enjoy happiness which is otherwise, very short lived, must not have realized the other side of the effects of ignorance. The ignorance can be a curse as well, when the same is accompanied by the vice of indulgive self righteousness. Still further, the ignorance of a person can play havoc to another if the ignorant happens to be afflicted with another vice of human instincts, namely the jealousy, creating rivalry. Furthermore, if the ignorant afflicted with jealousy happens to a King, then his ignorance can play havoc to any person and every person, because his audience will be more than willing to execute the decree of the King, partly because of their inherent trait of psychopancy; and partly due to fear of reprisals. In such a situation the ignorant King may not spare even his kinsmen and the surrogate King. In the present case, the king happens to be a senior IAS Officer. The surrogate King happens to be a junior IAS Officer promoted from State Civil Service. The audience happens to be the officials working in government offices and dealing with the file in the present matter. The victim happens to be the son of the surrogate King, who claims to be a person of international repute in a particular sport and who has been denied the benefit claimed by him, by denying his international achievements.

2. The necessary facts, in brief, as involved in the present case; and as can be derived from the documents placed on record by both the parties are, that Haryana Public Service Commission advertised 166 posts of HCS (Executive Branch) and Allied Services vide advertisement dated 2.8.2018. In this advertisement, 48 posts were of HCS (Executive Branch). Out of these 48 posts, 2 posts were reserved for 'Eligible Sports Persons' (ESP) of Haryana. The petitioner claims that he has been playing the sport of 'Shooting' from the age of 8 years and in his journey upto date, he earned 6 international medals, which included one gold medal, 3 silver medals and 2 bronze medals in World University Championship, International Shooting Competition, The World Cup, The Junior World Cup, The Asian Airgun Shooting Championship and other various Championships, organised by International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF). In the process, he earned Silver Medal in ISSF Junior Cup Tournament held in Suhl (Germany) in the year 2014, which is involved in the present petition. Besides this, the petitioner earned 81 medals in the sport, which included 37 gold medals, 25 silver medals and 19 bronze medals. Since the petitioner was eligible to compete in the category of 'Eligible Sports Persons', therefore, he got the gradation certificate from the Sports Department of Haryana as required under law for his silver medal in ISSF Junior World Cup; and applied for the post advertised by Haryana Public Service Commission. The petitioner took the written competitive exam held for the posts of HCS (Executive Branch) and Allied Services by Haryana Public Service Commission from 16.8.2019 to 20.8.2019. On the basis of his merit obtained in written exam, he was called for viva voce, which was held from 11.11.2019 to 15.11.2019. Having finalised the merit of selection, the Haryana Public Service Commission declared the result of selection on 19.12.2019. The petitioner, who had participated under Roll No. 3944 was declared as successful and recommended for appointment by Haryana Public Service Commission in the category of Eligible Sports Persons. Thereafter, accepting the recommendations, respondent No.2 asked the selected candidates, including the petitioner, to bring their original degree/certificates for checking vide letter dated 21.12.2019. Also, vide another letter dated 21.12.2019, th