Public appointments require a transparent, merit-based selection process. Administrative approval for appointment without conducting any evaluation of the applicants' suitability is arbitrary and legally unsustainable, regardless of the applicant's eligibility for specific reserved categories.

ORDER :

N. UNNI KRISHNAN NAIR, J.

Heard Ms. Kim Pienyu, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. Philip Lorin, learned counsel for the respondent No.5 and Mr. M. Longkumer, learned Government Advocate for the State.

2. The petitioner in the present proceedings has assailed the approval granted for appointment of the respondent No.5 against the post of MTS, becoming available in the establishment of the District Commandant, Home Guards, Civil Defence and State Disaster Response Force, Mon, Nagaland. The petitioner has further prayed for a direction upon the respondent authorities to consider her case for appointment against the said post, by reckoning her to be a member of the family who had donated land for setting up of Government establishments in Mon District.

3. The petitioner in the writ petition has projected that after the State of Nagaland was formerly inaugurated as the 16th State of the country, an agreement dated 21.02.1964 came to be executed between the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mon and the Anghs, Goan Boras and elders of Chui and Mon Villages for donation of land without any consideration for setting up of the district head quarters at Mon. It is projected that in terms of the said agreement, the villagers concerned were entitled to retain certain percentage of taxes realized as house or business taxes from private person residing within the area, in question. It is further projected that the said agreement was reviewed on 25.02.2015 and the villagers not being in a position to collect the taxes as agreed, it was provided that preference would be given to villagers of Chui and Mon village for appointment against Grade-IV post in Government departments, situated in the district. It is also projected that in pursuance to a consultative meeting held on 04.06.2024, a Memorandum of Agreement was executed between the Governmental Authorities and the villagers of Mon and Chui village and therein, it was resolved that 49.5% post falling vacant in Grade-IV category in the Government establishment situated within the district, shall be reserved for villagers of Chui and Mon, who had donated land for setting up of such Government establishments.

The petitioner projects that on a vacancy arising in the establishment of the District Commandant, Home Guards, Civil Defence and State Disaster Response Force, Mon, against a Grade-IV post, she had submitted an application for consideration of her case for appointment against the said vacant post by reckoning her to be a member of the family who had donated land. The claim made by the petitioner was however not considered and the Government of Nagaland in the Home Department proceeded to accord Administrative Approval for appointment of the respondent No.5, herein, against the said vacant post, which was claimed by the petitioner, herein.

Being aggrieved, the petitioner has instituted the present writ petition.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner by reiterating the facts noticed, hereinabove, has submitted that the petitioner being a resident within the area forming the district headquarters of Mon District and the villagers of the area having donated land, in terms of the understanding arriving at in the matter in pursuance to various Memorandum of Agreement executed, she was entitled to have her case considered for appointment against the vacant post available in the establishment of the District Commandant, Home Guards, Mon. It is further projected that the respondent authorities in a most arbitrary manner did not consider the claim of the petitioner and proceeded to grant Administrative Approval for appointment of the respond