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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
ASHWANI KUMAR MISHRA, J.
Deepak Kumar And 62 Others – Appellant
Versus
Union Of India And 8 Others – Respondents
Writ A No.6334 of 2021
Indulge in malpractice - Evaluation of marks – Selection list – Challenged - Whether recruitment in question is vitiated on account of introduction of normalization process - Whether recruitment in question is vitiated on account of alleged anomalies pointed out by petitioners - Alleged irregularities committed in recruitment itself - A prayer has been made to select and appoint the petitioners as they have qualified the Computer Based Examination (CBE), Physical Efficiency Test (PET)/Physical Standard Test (PST) and Detailed Medical Examination - Petitioners further contend that respondents be directed to declare actual raw marks and normalization marks of all selected and non-selected candidates for posts in question - Petitioners have also questioned Corrigendum Notice issued by respondent Commission, process of normalization was introduced for evaluating marks scored by candidates. Petitioners assert that select list be drawn again strictly in accordance with Advertisement - Scheme for recruitment of Constables issued by Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India - It is also urged that remaining vacancies be also filled with appointment of petitioners as they are eligible - Assam Rifles as per the scheme of recruitment formulated by Ministry of Home Affairs pursuant to a memorandum of understanding signed between Ministry of Home Affairs and Commission - Detailed Medical Examination/Review Medical Examination and on basis of eligibility documents to be furnished by the candidates subject to their verification - Penalty and debarment of candidates found indulging in malpractice was also incorporated
Finding of the court: Court would like to observe that in large scale recruitments where more than lakhs of candidates have participated and the exercise has already concluded with selection of more than 50,000 candidates the Court would be reluctant to entertain routine challenges to the recruitment unless credible materials are placed before the Court for such challenge - The absence of challenge to the normalization method and the scores obtained by the Selection Board in scaling the marks of the candidates scored in written examination, we take it that normalisation formula and the normalized percentile score worked out by the Selection Board is just and fair - Court finds that though allegations are made regarding various anomalies but these allegations are wholly vague and general in nature and absolutely no material in support of such challenge has been placed on record before this Court. Mere allegation without there being any material to substantiate it would not be a ground for the writ Court to entertain challenge to such large scale recruitment. Any number of fanciful grounds of challenge can be included in the petition but unless it is supported by some prima facie material Court would not be obliged to entertain it so as to cause a roving and fishing enquiry in large scale recruitment.
Result: Writ petition is dismissed
63 petitioners belonging to different categories have filed the present writ petition and challenged the select list dated 21.01.2020, published by Staff Selection Commission i.e. respondent No.4 (hereinafter referred to as the Commission), whereby 56088 Constables (G.D.) have been selected for appointment to Central Armed Forces. A prayer has been made to select and appoint the petitioners as they have qualified the Computer Based Examination (CBE), Physical Efficiency Test (PET)/Physical Standard Test (PST) and Detailed Medical Examination. The petitioners have also questioned the Corrigendum Notice dated 08.02.2019 and 07.02.2019, issued by respondent Commission, whereby process of normalization was introduced for evaluating the marks scored by the candidates. Petitioners, therefore, assert that the select list be drawn again strictly in accordance with Advertisement dated 21.07.2018 as well as Sub-clause (1) of Clause 9 of the revised scheme for recruitment of Constables issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. It is also urged that 4122 remaining vacancies be also filled with the appointment of petitioners as they are eligible. One of the prayers made in the petition is also to constitute a high level enquiry committee for scrutinizing the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment itself. Petitioners further contend that the respondents be directed to declare actual raw marks and normalization marks of all selected and non-selected candidates for the posts in question.
I have heard Sri Vijay Gautam, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Ms. Atipriya Gautam, Advocate for the petitioners and Sri Pranay Krishna, learned counsel appearing for respondent nos. 1 to 4 and perused the materials on record.
The recruitment herein has been initiated pursuant to an advertisement contained in Annexure no. 2 to the writ petition which came to be published in the Employment News on 21.07.2018. The applicants were allowed to register themselves between 21.07.2018 to 20.08.2018. Selection was to be made by the Commission to the post of Constable (G.D.) in different Central Police Agencies i.e. Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Secretariat Security Force (SSF) and Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles as per the scheme of recruitment formulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs pursuant to a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Commission. All applications were to be accepted by online mode only. Computer Based Examination was to be conducted by the Commission in Hindi and English, which was to be followed with Physical Efficiency Test/Physical Standard Test, Detailed Medical Examination/Review Medical Examination and on the basis of eligibility documents to be furnished by the candidates subject to their verification. The minimum qualification for appointment is Matriculation or 10th pass from a recognized Board or University and the candidates were to be between 18 to 23 years of age as on 01.08.2018. Relaxation in age limit was available as per the Government Policy for SC/ST, O.B.C. and Ex-servicemen cadre and is specified in para 4-B of the advertisement.
Clause 8 of the advertisement specifies the centres of examination for different regions. Regional Director of the Commission at Allahabad was to conduct recruitment for central region which consists for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The scheme of examination is contained in Clause 9 of the advertisement. The Candidates had to appear in the Computer Based Examination which consisted of objective type paper containing 100 questions of 100 marks. The Questions were in different categories. Part A consisted of general intelligence and reasoning having 25 questions carrying 25 marks and the other part was of 25 questions of General Knowledge and General Awarene
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