Existing merit panel candidates with departmental recommendation and COVID duty preference entitled to reasoned consideration before fresh recruitment for sanctioned posts.

O R D E R

Per: Mr. Diwakar Singh, Member (J)

1.Heard Ld. Counsel on both the sides.

2. The applicant has filed this Original Application seeking the following relief(s):

“a) An Order do issue directing the respondents to act and proceed in accordance with the provisions of law;

b) Office Order 29.04.2024 issued by the respondent No. 4 based on the incorrect information furnished by the respondent No. 3 in her Office Order dated 23.01.2024 to the extent of recording refusal by the selected candidate in joining the post of Nursing Officer under Kolkata CGHs and the process of filling up the same through the Recruiting agency are not tenable in the eye of law and as such the same may be quashed.

c) An Order do issue directing the respondents to consider the candidature of the applicant for his selection and/or promotion and/or absorption to the post of Nursing Officer at Ishapore WC or any other Wellness Centre under Kolkata CGHS and to extend the benefit of DOPT Office Memorandums on the issue and the benefits extended to the similarly situated incumbents in CGHS Delhi and CGHS Mumbai and thereby extend the benefit of his selection and/or promotion and/or absorption to the post of Nursing Officer under CGHS Kolkata at an earliest;

d) To grant all consequential benefits;

e) To grant Costs and incidentals;

f) Certify and transmit the entire records and papers pertaining to the applicant's case so that after the causes shown thereof conscionable justice may be done unto the applicant by way of grant of reliefs as prayed for in (a), (b), (c) and (d) above;

g) Any other order or orders as the Hon'ble Tribunal deems fit and proper.”

FACTS OF THE CASE

3. The applicant in the instant O.A. was appointed to the post of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Kolkata, pursuant to a recruitment process in which he secured the first position in the merit list and joined service on 06.09.2019. While in service, the Office of the Additional Director, CGHS Kolkata issued an Employment Notification in Employment News dated 11th -17th January 2020 inviting applications for recruitment to various posts including the post of Nursing Officer under CGHS Kolkata, with posting at any CGHS Wellness Centre under its administrative control (Annexure A/2). Being eligible, the applicant applied for the said post and was permitted to appear in the recruitment process as a departmental candidate vide Office Order dated 28.01.2020 (Annexure A/2).

3.1. Upon completion of the recruitment process, a merit list dated 20.02.2021 (Annexure A/2) was published in which the applicant’s name appeared at Serial No. 16 in the Unreserved category. It is not in dispute that candidates higher in the merit list were appointed against the advertised vacancies. During the subsistence of the panel period, one post of Nursing Officer was sanctioned for the newly established CGHS Wellness Centre at Ishapore, vide Order dated 10.06.2021 (Annexure A/3). The applicant thereafter submitted representations dated 30.12.2021, 24.02.2022, 06.12.2023 and 04.01.2024 (Annexure A/3 collectively) seeking consideration of his candidature for appointment to the said post, particularly, as a departmental candidate and as an eligible candidate from the existing panel.

3.2. It is further evident from the records that the Additional Director, CGHS Kolkata forwarded the applicant’s case to the higher authorities, vide letter dated 23.01.2024, and, subsequently