Sr. No. 4

HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH

AT JAMMU

CJ Court

Case: WP(C) No.1993 of 2021

Rohit Chib and others

…Petitioner(s)/Appellant(s)

Through: Sh.Sunil Sethi, Senior Advocate

with

Sh.

Parimoksh

Seth,

Advocate.

v/s

UT of J&K and others.

…. Respondent(s)

Through: Sh. D C Raina, Advocate General

with Sh. Ayjaz Lone, Dy. AG.

CORAM:

HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJNESH OSWAL, JUDGE

ORDER

1.

In all, 348 persons have invoked the extraordinary jurisdiction of this

Court to challenge the order dated 06.08.2021 passed by the Central

Administrative Tribunal, Jammu Bench, Jammu (for short >the Tribunal?) in

Original Application no. 1107 of 2021 titled Rohit Chib and others v. Service

Selection Board, J&K UT.

2.

The aforesaid order of the Tribunal is an interlocutory order by which

the Original Application of the petitioners has been entertained but they have

been denied interim order as prayed for on the ground that the grant of the

same would amount to granting the final relief which is not permissible in law.

3.

It appears that some other candidates had filed a similar writ petition

WP(C) no. 1886/2021, Irshid Ahmed Dar and others v. Govt. of Jammu and

Kashmir and others in the Srinagar wing of the High Court challenging the

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WP(C) 1993 of 2021

similar order of the Tribunal entertaining their Original Application no.

1102/2021 but refusing to grant the interim order.

4.

In one another Original Application No.1011/2021 of a similar nature,

some interim protection was granted to the candidates therein.

5.

In view of the above, WP(C) No.1886/2021 was disposed of on

27.09.2021 with the direction to club the Original Application No.1102/2021

with Original Application No.1011/2021 for decision together with liberty to

the petitioners therein to apply for interim order afresh.

6.

The above facts reveal that the controversy involved in the Original

Application giving rise to this writ petition is also involved in some other

original applications and the interlocutory orders passed in those original

applications have become the subject matter of consideration of various writ

petitions filed before this Court. In the facts and circumstances, we considered

it appropriate to end the controversy fully and finally and, as such, allowed the

parties to address us not only on the merits of the stay but even on the merits of

the controversy involved in the original applications.

7.

The short controversy which actually arises in the original application or

as a matter of fact in the writ petition is as to whether petitioners are entitled to

grant of interim protection pending the original application which is dependent

upon the eligibility of the petitioners to participate in the selection for the post

of Class-IV employees in the various departments of the Union Territory of

Jammu and Kashmir. If the petitioners are not qualified and eligible to

participate in the selection process, obviously, they are not entitled to any

interim protection.

8.

The Advertisement No.1 of 2020 dated 26.06.2020 invited applications

for appointment on 8575 employees on Class-IV posts with one of the

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conditions that the minimum and maximum qualification for appointment to

Class-IV posts under direct recruitment shall be <minimum matric and

maximum 10+2=with thefurther conditionthat any candidate having

qualification other than prescribed shall not be eligible for Class-IV post.

9.

The petitioners are candidates who are graduates or possessing even

higher qualification and, as such, have been denied participation in the

selection process.

10.

The submission of Sh. Sunil Sethi, senior counsel is that the higher

qualification such as graduation possessed by the petitioners presupposes the

possession of minimum matric and maximum 10+2 qua