High Court's supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 ensures that inferior courts and tribunals act within their authority to prevent injustices.

JUDGMENT

Muralee Krishna, J.

The applicants in O.A.No.1680 of 2025 on the file of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram (the ‘Tribunal’ for short), filed this original petition invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of this Court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India , challenging Ext.P8 interim order dated 05.02.2026 passed by the Tribunal in the original application.

2. Going by the averments in the original application, the petitioners are working as Assistant Professors in the Department of Homoeopathy in various subjects. The 1^st respondent Kerala Public Service Commission (‘KPSC’ for short), through Gazette Notification dated 16.08.2023, invited applications for the post of Associate Professor/Reader (various subjects) in Government Homoeopathic Medical Colleges. Subsequently, KPSC issued an Erratum Notification dated 16.11.2023. Aggrieved by the Erratum Notification, the petitioners filed O.A. No.1638 of 2024 before the Tribunal. The O.A. was dismissed, vide order dated 23.10.2024, relying on the decision of the Additional Bench of the Tribunal in O.A.(EKM) No.675 of 2024 dated 24.09.2024. The petitioners challenged the dismissal order before this Court in O.P.(KAT) No.470 of 2024. This Court, by the judgment dated 21.03.2025, allowed O.P.(KAT) No.470 of 2024, setting aside the Erratum Notification dated 16.11.2023 and directing the KPSC to proceed with the original Notification dated 16.08.2023 and conclude the recruitment process. Aggrieved by the judgment in O.P.(KAT) No.470 of 2024, additional respondents in O.P.(KAT) No.496 of 2024 filed SLP(C) No.17152 of 2025, and the KPSC filed SLP(C) No.18971 of 2025 before the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court, vide order dated 21.04.2025, did not stay the judgment of this Court, but observed that pendency of the petitions shall not come in the way of the selection and appointment process, which shall be subject to the outcome of the SLPs. In disregard of the binding directions of this Court in O.P.(KAT) No.470 of 2024, the 1^st respondent issued Annexure A5 series ranked lists brought into force with effect from 27.09.2025, based on the Erratum Notification, accepting teaching experience certificates from private colleges outside Kerala, though this Court specifically held that teaching experience should be from Government Homoeopathic Medical Colleges and permanent registration with the Travancore Cochin Medical Council is mandatory. Since there is no stay in SLP(C) No.17152 of 2025 or SLP(C) No.18971 of 2025, the judgment of this Court in O.P.(KAT) No.470 of 2024 is in force and binding upon the 1^st respondent. Hence, the action of KPSC in reckoning teaching experience from private colleges and publishing the ranked lists is ex facie illegal, arbitrary, and in deliberate violation of this Court’s binding directions. With these averments, the petitioners filed O.A.No.1680 of 2025 under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act , 1985, seeking the following reliefs;

“(A) To quash and/or set aside Annexure A5 series of ranked lists, to the extent they are inconsistent with or violative of the directions contained in the judgment of the Hon’ble Kerala High Court in O.P. (KAT) No. 470 of 2024.

(B) To direct the 1^st respondent to reconsider and rework Annexure A5 series of ranked lists, strictly in accordance with the directions issued by the Hon’ble Kerala High Court in O.P. (KAT) No. 470 of 2024”.

3. On 29.09.2025, when the original application came up for consideration, the Tribunal directed the learned Standing Counsel for KPSC to get instructions as to whether Annexure A5 serie