ENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL CHENNAI BENCH Dated this the 17^th day of December, Two Thousand Twenty Five CORAM :

HON'BLE MR M. SWAMINATHAN. MEMBER (J)

AND HON'BLE MR. M.L. SRIVASTAVA MEMBER(A)

R. Mercury, S/o K. Rajasekar, No.63, Subramaniya Bharathiyar Street, Red Hills, Chennai .. Applicant By Advocate Mr. V.S. Jagadeesan Vs.

1. The Secretary Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Room No.348 ‘A’ Wing, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi.

2. The Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, V. Ramalingasamy Bhavan, Post Box No.4911, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi.

3. The Director, ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre, Medical Complex, Indira Nagar, Puducherry. .. Respondents By Advocate Mr. K. Rajendran, SCGSC for R1 Mr. M. Kishore Kumar, SPC for R.2 & 3

ORDER

(Pronounced by Hon'ble Mr. M. Swaminathan, Judicial Member )

This OA has been filed by the applicant seeking the following relief:

rd “to call for the records on the file of the 3 respondent with regard to the email, dated 21.06.2024 and 16.05.2025 and quash the same and direct the respondents to consider the applicant for appointment to the post of Laboratory Attendant-1, by granting age relaxation of 5 years under the category of SC and further age relaxation of 2 years 5 months and 4 days as per the vacancy notification, Advertisement No. ICMR/VCRC/Tech/01/2023-2024, dated 10.07.2023, rd issued by the 3 respondent under the heading age limit as a candidate belongs to SC category and as a candidate working in the ICMR project, award cost and pass such further or other orders and thus render justice”

2. Brief facts of the case as submitted by the applicant are as follows:

The applicant belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. After completing the 12th Standard, he obtained a Diploma in Special Education in the year 2009. Thereafter, he pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in History and, upon completion of the same, enrolled in a Master’s Degree in Social Work, which he successfully completed in the year 2017. Pursuant to an advertisement issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) inviting applications for the post of Technical Officer, the applicant applied for the said post. He was called for an interview and was appointed as Senior Technical Officer in a project at the National Institute of Epidemiology, Ayapakkam, Chennai, for a period of one year from 01.08.2018 to 31.07.2019. Subsequently, he continued to be engaged by the respondents in various ICMR projects till date, with technical/artificial breaks between projects. It is further stated that, pursuant to the Notification, dated 10.07.2023 calling for applications to various posts including Technical Assistant, Technician-I, and Laboratory Attendant-I, the applicant applied online for the post of Laboratory Attendant-I vide Application No. 23070001007. The essential qualification for the said post is a pass in 10th Standard with 50% aggregate marks from a recognized board, along with one year of working experience in a Government- recognized/approved/registered laboratory. The upper age limit prescribed is 25 years as on the last date of submission of the application. The applicant, being a Scheduled Caste candidate, is entitled to five years’ age relaxation as per the Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum, dated 06.09.2022. Further, being a candidate continuously working in ICMR projects, he is also eligible for additional age relaxation up to five years. As on the relevant date, the applicant was aged 32 years and 5 months. Claiming age relaxation of five years under the Scheduled Caste category and a further relaxation of two years and five months for service rendered in ICMR projects, he applied for the post. He was permitted to appear for the examination, which he passed successfully. Thereafter, he was called for document verification and duly appeared for the same. The applicant specifically requested age relaxation under two categories, namely: (i) Scheduled Caste community, and (ii) Departmental can