Directs government to resume recruitment process, complete it within six months
PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has allowed a petition filed by candidates selected for the Lower Division Clerk (LDC) posts in the Town and Country Planning Department, challenging the scrapping of the recruitment process. The posts were scrapped despite appointments being finalised for other posts also advertised on February 27, 2019.
A Division Bench comprising Justice M S Karnik and Justice Nivedita Mehta termed the decision of the State as “arbitrary, illegal and bad in law.”
“We have no hesitation in holding the decision of the respondents to cancel the recruitment process of LDCs, which is the subject matter of the present petition, as arbitrary, illegal, and bad in law. The Writ Petition is accordingly allowed,” the Court stated.
The Court directed the State to resume the recruitment process for the LDC posts from the stage it was halted and ensure its logical conclusion in accordance with the rules within six months.
The Bench also noted that while recruitment for other posts – Planning Assistants, Overseers, Draftsman Grade II, Junior Stenographers, and Multi-Tasking Staff – had been completed, the LDC recruitment was kept on hold due to the model code of conduct for the State Legislative Assembly elections. After the elections, the government decided to proceed with the recruitment process and appointments for other posts while cancelling the LDCs in 2023 directing to start the process afresh.
“No doubt the petitioners do not have a right to be appointed to the post or insist that the recruitment process must be completed only because they have passed the written test, however decision to cancel the process must be free from arbitrariness and discrimination," the Court remarked, adding, “But for saying that the petitioners have no vested right to seek appointment in the post of LDC, there is absolutely no justification in the affidavit or the file notings as to why only 22 posts of LDCs from the very same advertisement are excluded when in respect of other posts advertised the respondents have gone ahead with the selection process and even issued appointment orders. Such approach in our opinion is arbitrary.”
The order was passed in a petition filed by 11 candidates, who along with other candidates had cleared a 100-mark written test conducted on February 9, 2020 followed by a computer typing test on January 5-6, 2022. The petitioners were called for document verification on January 7, 2022, and their eligibility was confirmed.
According to the petitioners, the issuance of appointment letters was delayed due to the enforcement of the model code of conduct on January 8, 2022, which remained in force till March 15, 2022. They argued that the TCP department failed to publish the select list of candidates and issue offer letters. “Repeat inquiries revealed the matter was under process. The other posts were filled in the meantime and the government thereafter decided to scrap the LDC recruitment,” the writ petition stated.
