IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 In the matter of an application under Article 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India.

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Meena Naik …. Petitioner -versus-

1. State of Odisha …. Opposite Parties

2. Regional Chief Conservator of Forest, Bhawanipatna Circle, Kalahandi

3. Divisional Forest Officer, Kalahandi

4. Prakash Chandra Mishra

5. Kanhu Charan Tripathy

6. Tapan Kumar Behera For Petitioner : Mr. S.K. Das, Advocate For Opposite Parties : Mr. S.P. Das, ASC CORAM:

JUSTICE V. NARASINGH DATE OF HEARING AND JUDGMENT : 12.02.2025 V. Narasingh, J.

1. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner and learned counsel for the State.

2. The present writ petition has been filed assailing the impugned order at Annexure-11 by which the Petitioner who was working as a Forest Guard belonging to SC category and a woman was denied promotion to the cadre of “Forester”.

The Petitioner consequentially assailed the promotion which according to the Petitioner erroneously given to Opposite parties 4 to 6 vide Annexure-6.

3. By order dated 07.11.2024, notices to the private Opposite Parties 5 to 6 have been held to be sufficient. So also the notice qua the Opposite Party No.4 as per the noting of the Registry is held to be sufficient.

None appears for the private Opposite Parties when the matter is called.

4. Brief facts germane for just adjudication which are undisputed are as under:-

The Petitioner who belongs to Scheduled Caste category joined as Forest Guard on being selected by order dated 21.08.2020.

5. Taking into account the bone of contention in the writ petition, it is apt to refer the RTI information placed on record by the Petitioner vide Annexure-12 more particularly at page-45 of the brief which indicates that the physical standard test of the candidates selected for the feeder cadre post of Forest Guards in Kalahandi North Forest Division under Bhawanipatna Circle was conducted on 04.09.2015. In the result of such test, the name of the Petitioner appears at Serial No.18 under the category “SC” and her height in cm i.e. stated as “153”. For convenience of reference the said table is extracted hereunder:-

6. Since the Petitioner was eligible for promotion to the post of Forester, she participated in the selection and since her height was found to be less than the minimum standard of 153 cm as per the requirement, her case was not considered and assailing the same, the Petitioner approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No.26142 of 2022, which was disposed of by order dated 13.10.2022, wherein this Court directed the authorities to take a fresh decision regarding the claim of the Petitioner for her promotion as against Unreserved vacancies as well.

7. On fresh consideration by the impugned order at Annexure-11, the claim of the Petitioner was rejected, assailing which the present writ petition has been filed.

8. On perusal of Annexure-11, it is seen that the authorities have referred to the criteria for promotion as per Rule 14 of Odisha Subordinate Forest Service (Method of Recruitment and Conditions of Service of Foresters) Amendment Rules, 2020 and hereinafter referred to as “Rules, 2020”. In the said Rules, in a tabular form, the minimum physical standard of the candidates of different categories has been detailed and the same is extracted hereunder:-

And for the lis in question, since the Petitioner is a woman and belongs to SC category the minimum required height is 153 cm.

8-A. Referring to the said Rules, it is stated that the Petitioner height was found to be 151.6 C.M. and therefore she was not promoted to the higher rank. Such finding in the impugned order at Anneuxre-11 runs thus:-

“And whereas the height of Meena Naik, Forest Guard (Petitioner) is found 151.6 cm and she did not achieve minimum height as require