The principle of actus curiae neminem gravabit does not apply to extend the validity of an expired ranked list when no exceptional circumstances are established.

ORDER

Vinod Chandran, J.

The review is filed, as permitted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Annexure A1 order, in a special leave to appeal filed against the judgment under review. The Hon'ble Supreme Court granted liberty to file a review petition on any other factual aspects to be considered, not being covered by the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Aneesh Kumar V.S v. State of Kerala [ 2020(7) SCC

301].

2. The judgment under review affirmed the order of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) which rejected the prayer of the applicants/petitioners to extend the validity of the ranked list beyond its date of expiry, 31.08.2019. The Division Bench relied on Subina v. State of Kerala [ 2019(3) KLT 735 ].

3. We heard Sri. Renjith B Marar for the review petitioners and Sri. P.C Sasidharan, Standing Counsel for the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC).

4. The claim of the petitioners in the OA before the Tribunal was to extend the period of validity of the ranked list in which they figured, which were produced at Annexures A2 to A16. The ranked lists were of candidates for the post of Lower Division Typists, in the various districts and departments which came into effect on 31.08.2016 and expired on 31.08.2019, as per Rule 13 of the KPSC Rules of Procedure, 1976. The rule provides that a ranked list would remain in force for a period of one year from the date on which it is brought into force, and, after the period of one year if a new list is not published it will continue till the expiry of three years or till a ranked list is published, whichever occurs earlier. There is no new ranked list published and the subject ranked list stood expired on 31.08.2019. The O.A before the Tribunal is seen to have been filed in August, 2019, just prior to the expiry of the ranked list.

5. The contention raised in the review is that the principle actus curiae neminem gravabit (an act of Court shall prejudice no man) as enunciated in Unnikrishnan Nair G.S v. State of Kerala [2019(2) KLJ 152] is squarely applicable here. The contention also is that there was a stay of appointments to the post of Lower Division Typists in the subordinate- Judiciary produced as Annexure A16 in the Original Application. The review petitioners also submits that due to the rampage of cyclone-'Okhi' and the unprecedented floods, during the validity period of the ranked list, there were not many promotions carried out in the various departments, resulting in vacancies not arising in the posts to which the ranked lists were published.

6. Before we look into the contentions raised in the review petition, we have to first notice the dictum as emanating from the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Aneesh Kumar V.S which was a challenge against the judgment of the Full Bench of this Court in Unnikrishnan Nair G.S. The Hon'ble Supreme Court looked at Rule 13 and the first proviso to decide on whether the ranked list therein, for appointment to the post of Sub Inspector of Police(Trainee)could be extended or not. The first proviso applied to ranked lists of candidates who are to be first admitted to a training course that leads to automatic appointment to services or posts. In such cases the ranked list as per the proviso, expires within one year from the date of its finalization or after one month from the date of commencement of the training in respect of the last batch selected from the list within a period of one year from the date of finalization, whichever is later. It was found that the ranked list which was sought to be extended though subjected to an interim order by the Tribunal, it did not affect any appointments. The interim order of status quo later passed was in the Civil Appeal filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court which stood vacated when the Civil Appeals were disposed off, again within the period of validity of the ranked list. The last batch of the empanelled candidates commenced their training on 01.05.2016 and the list ceased to exist on 01