W.P.(MD) No.8068 of 2019

BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

DATED: 11.04.2022

CORAM:

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM

W.P.(MD) No.8068 of 2019

and

W.M.P.(MD) Nos.6373 & 6374 of 2019 & 15226 of 2020

S.Balakrishnan

... Petitioner

vs.

1.The State of Tamil Nadu

rep.by the Secretary to Government

Personnel and Administrative

Reforms Department

Fort St.George, Chennai-600 009

2.Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board

Rep.by the Member Secretary

No.807, P.T.Lee Chengalvaraya Naickar Maaligai

Annasalai, Chennai-600 002

3.The Director General of Police

Beach Road, Chennai-600 004

... Respondents

PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of

India for issuance of writ of certiorarified mandamus to call for

the records pertaining to the impugned advertisement No.1/2019,

dated 06.03.2019 for the common recruitment of Grade II Police

Constable / Grade II Jail Warder / Firemen -2019 and quash the

serial No.7 by fixing the date i.e. on 01.07.2019 as age limit as

illegal and consequently direct the respondents to permit the

petitioner to take part in the recruitment process of Grade II

Police Constable / Grade II Jail Warder/Fireman-2019.

For Petitioner

:

Mr.P.T.Ramesh Raja

For Respondents :

Mr.Veera Kathiravan

Additional Advocate General

assisted by Mr.A.K.Manikkam

Special Government Pleader

O R D E R

The recruitment notification for selection and appointment

to the posts of Grade II Police Constable / Grade II Jail Warder /

Fireman-2019 is under challenge in this writ petition.

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W.P.(MD) No.8068 of 2019

2. According to the petitioner, the cutoff date fixed in

the notification for age criteria is not proper and the date of

notification i.e.06.03.2019 is to be fixed as the cutoff date for

age criteria. However, the recruitment notification states the

cutoff date as 01.07.2019 for age criteria.

3. Fixing a cutoff date for selection is the prerogative of

the employer. Such cutoff date cannot be challenged in a routine

manner. As per the cutoff date, the petitioner is not eligible to

participate in the selection process. The issues regarding fixing

cutoff date has been elaborately considered by this Court, by order

dated 25.04.2017 in W.P.(MD) Nos.2982 and 2081 of 2017 and the

relevant paragraphs are extracted hereunder:

“16.In the case of Shankar k. Mandal and

others v. State of Bihar and others reported in

(2003) 9 SCC 519, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has

made the position clear after taking support from

earlier judgment in the following lines:

“What happens when a cut off date is

fixed

for

fulfilling

the

prescribed

qualification relating to age by a candidate

for appointment and the effect of any non-

prescription has been considered by this Court

in several cases. The principles culled out

from the decisions of this Court (See Ashok

Kumar Sharma and Ors.v. Chander Shekhar and

Anr. (1997 (4) SCC 18, Bhupinderpal Singh v.

State of Punjab (2000 (5) SCC 262 and Jasbir

Rani and ors. v. State of Punjab and Anr.

(2002 (1) SCC 124) are as follows:

(1) The cut off date by reference to

which the eligibility requirement must be

satisfied by the candidate seeking a

public employment is the date appointed by

the relevant service rules;

(2) If there is no cut off date

appointed by the rules then such date

shall be as appointed for the purpose in

the

advertisement

calling

for

applications; and

(3) If there is no such date

appointed then the eligibility criteria

shall be applied by reference to the last

date appointed by which the applications

were to be received by the competent

authority.”

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W.P.(MD) No.8068 of 2019

17.In another judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme

Court in the case of A.P. Public Service

Commission