ORDER

Per: - Ram Mohan Johri, Administrative Member

1. The SWP No.3277/2019 was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and was registered as T.A No.7648/2020 by the Registry of this Tribunal.

2. The present matter was filed before the Hon’ble High Court seeking following relief: -

WRIT OF MANDAMUS;

a) Commanding upon the official respondents to give more weightage/preference to driver experience rather than educational qualifications, for the post of Driver in Health and Medical Education Department, as the job being technical in nature, requiring technical/driving skills.

b) Commanding upon the official respondents to consider the candidature of the petitioner for the post of Driver in Health and Medical Education Department, Distt. Ramban; also, to count the 12 years driver experience of the petitioner and to select him for the said post on the basis of his merit.

c) Commanding upon the official respondents to draw a fresh selection list, by giving preference to driver experience and to make appointments accordingly as per merit.

WRIT OF CERTIORARI;

a) Quashing the impugned order no.828 of 2017, dated: 06-12-2017, by virtue of which the private respondents 4 & 5, were appointed as drivers in Health and Medical Education Department, Distt. Ramban.

b) Quashing the impugned selection list with item no. 694, issued pursuant to notice dated: 02-12-2015, with a direction to draw fresh merit panel by counting driver experiences of candidates.

c) Any other writ, order or direction, deems appropriate in the circumstances of the case, may also be issued in favour of the petitioner as against the respondents.

3. The present Transfer Application arises out of SWP No. 3277/2019, which was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir at Jammu to this Tribunal and came to be registered as T.A. No. 7648/2020. The applicant has approached this Tribunal questioning the selection and appointment of the private respondents against the post of Driver in the Health and Medical Education Department, District Cadre Ramban, advertised by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board pursuant to Advertisement Notification No. 07 of 2015 dated 02.12.2015 under Item No. 694.

4. The relief sought by the applicant is, in substance, for issuance of a direction to the official respondents to give more weightage/preference to driving experience rather than educational qualification for the post of Driver, to consider the candidature of the applicant by counting his alleged twelve years’ driving experience, to redraw the selection list, and to quash the selection list as well as appointment order No. 828 of 2017 dated 06.12.2017 whereby the private respondents came to be appointed.

5. The case set up by the applicant is that the post of Driver is technical in nature and requires practical driving skill and experience, especially in hilly areas. It is pleaded that the official respondents had advertised three posts of Driver under Item No. 694, out of which one post was under Open Merit category, one under RBA category and one under SC category. The prescribed qualification for the post was “Middle Pass with Hill Driving Licence”. According to the applicant, he fulfilled the prescribed qualification, possessed a hill driving licence, belonged to RBA category and had about twelve years’ driving experience in hilly as well as plain areas.

6. The applicant contends that while preparing the select list, the official respondents did not give adequate weightage to driving experience and instead granted marks for higher educational qualification, which, according to him, has no nexus with the duties attached to the post of Driver. He alleges that no written test was conducted and that the selection list did not disclose the detailed break-up of marks under various heads such as qualification, driving experience, driving test and interview. He also alleges that he had submitted an RTI application