JOHN JOHN TELEN KOM TELEN KOM Date: 2026.01.27 Sl. No. 13,14 &15 IN THE HIGH COURT OF MANIPUR AT IMPHAL WA No.66 of 2023 With WA No.67 of 2023 With WA No.68 of 2023 State of Manipur & Anr.

Appellants Vs.

Khaidem Narendrajit Singh & Anr.

Respondents BEFORE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. M. SUNDAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AHANTHEM BIMOL SINGH (ORDER)

s (Order of the Court was made by M. Sundar, CJ)

22.01.2026.

[1] This common order will now dispose of the captioned 3(three) ‘writ appeals’(‘WAs’ in plural and ‘WA’ in singular) which are directed against a ‘common judgement & order dated 10.10.2022’ made by Hon’ble Single Judge in 3(three) writ petitions namely, WP(C)No.727 of 2019, WP(C)No.208 of 2022 and WP(C)No.209 of 2022 and. This 10.10.2022 order shall be referred to as ‘impugned order’ for the sake of convenience and clarity.

[2] At this juncture, it will suffice to write that all 3(three) writ petitions filed by two individuals were allowed and State is on appeal. To be noted, the writ petitions pertain to appointment of two individuals (direct recruitment) as Store keeper in Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (CAF & PD)

department, State of Manipur.

[3] Mr. Y. Ashang, learned senior advocate instructed by Mr. Phungyo Zingkhei, learned State counsel is before us on behalf of appellants (State). Mr. H.S Paonam, learned senior advocate instructed by Mrs. Ksh. Harichhaya Chanu, learned counsel on record for the two respondents is before us on the other side. The appellants shall be referred to as ‘State’ and the respondents shall be referred to as ‘writ petitioners’ both for the sake of convenience. To be noted, the respondents are being referred to as ‘writ petitioners’ based on their rank before the learned Single Judge.

[4] Factual matrix in a nutshell is as follows:

(4.1) CAF & PD department issued a notification dated 16.12.2016 inviting applications from eligible candidates for appointment to various posts qua (a) Civil Supplies Inspector (b) Store Keeper (c) Quality Inspector and (d) LDC/Office Assistant (this Court is informed that LDC denotes ‘Lower Division Clerk’).

(4.2) The two writ petitioners responded to afore-referred notification and applied (they being eligible), they were called for an interview, the interview was held on 03.01.2017 and the result was announced on the same day i.e., 03.01.2017. Suffice to say that the writ petitioners were successful and they were selected. The very next day i.e., on 04.01.2017 appointment orders were issued to the writ petitioners, they also joined and gave a joining report on 04.01.2017. Before proceeding further, it is necessary to record that the case file says that the selection was by a ‘DPC’ and that ‘DPC’ denotes ‘Departmental Promotion Committee’. This in our considered opinion is a misnomer in terms of nomenclature because the writ petitioners and other candidates who responded to 16.12.2016 notification are not in-service candidates who were to be promoted but were applying for direct recruitment. Therefore, it would be appropriate to construe DPC to be a Selection Committee. To be noted, learned senior counsel for State very fairly submitted that Selection Committee would the appropriate nomenclature.

(4.3) Reverting to the calendrical progression of events, on the date on which appointment orders were issued and the writ petitioners joined and gave a joining report i.e. 04.01.2017, General Elections were announced by the Election Commission for the State of Manipur and the Model Code of Conduct kicked in i.e. came into force. Thereafter, when the writ petitioners were working, it appears that some complaints erupted qua certain alleged irregularities committed by the department of CAF & PD, in recruitment to the afore-referred posts. This resulted in constitution of a ‘Special Investigation Team’(SIT) and this SIT is being referred to as ‘SIT-1’. To be noted, the alleged irregularities are fourfold and they are: (a) excess appointments, (b) missing signature of DPC me