Jharkhand High Court
Ramesh Hansda & Anr vs The State Of Jharkhand & Ors on 1 December, 2021
Author: Ravi Ranjan
Bench: Chief Justice, Sujit Narayan Prasad
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P.(C) No. 3894 of 2021
Ramesh Hansda & Anr. ... Petitioners
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Ors. ... Respondents
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CORAM : HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUJIT NARAYAN PRASAD
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For the Petitioners : Mr. Ajit Kumar, Sr. Advocate Mr. Rupesh Singh, Advocate For the State : Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, Advocate General Mr. Mohan Kumar Dubey, A.C. to A.G. For the JSSC : Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, Advocate
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Oral Order 04 / Dated : 01.12.2021 This Writ petition has been filed inter alia for grant of following reliefs:-
a) To hold and declare the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct (Amendment) Rules, 2021 as notified and published by the respondents vide the gazette notification as contained in memo no. 3849, dated 10.08.2021 (Annexure-3) particularly its Rule no.2 pertaining to amendments made in Rule 5 (ii) of Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct Rules, 2015 and Rule no. 7 pertaining to amendments made in Rule 10 of the aforesaid Rules of 2015 as arbitrary, irrational and unreasonable and thereby ultra vires provisions of the Constitution of India for abridging the fundamental rights of the aspiring candidates including the petitioners.
b) Consequent upon such declaration as prayed in the foregoing paragraph, the Hon'ble Court may be pleased to quash and set aside the concerned Rule 3 and 7 of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct (Amendment) Rules, 2021 whereby amendments have been brought in Rule 5 (ii) and Rule 10 of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct Rules, 2015 and consequent thereto direct the respondents to hold the competitive examinations under JSSC as per the original provisions as amended except 2 the above referred Rules/Amendments which are under challenge in the present writ petition.
It appears that the main challenge is firstly to the Rule 2 of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct (Amendment) Rules, 2021 substituting the minimum qualification in which it has been inserted that all the candidates belonging to the unreserved category should be mandatorily have the qualifications of Matric/10th and Intermediate/10+2 from a recognized institution of the State of Jharkhand. In addition to that it has also been pointed out that so far as the reserved category candidates are concerned they have been relaxed from the aforesaid condition.
The aforesaid substitution is extracted and quoted hereunder as:
"2- >kj[k.M deZpkjh p;u vk;ksx ijh{kk ¼Lukrd Lrj½ lapkyu fu;ekoyh] 2015 ¼;Fkk la'kksf/kr] 2016½ ds fu;e&5&ik=rk@vgRrkZ dk fu/kkZj.k dh dafMdk&¼ii½ fuEukafdr izko/kku gSa %& ^^vH;fFkZ;ksa dks vk;ksx esa vkosnu izkIr gksus dh vafre frfFk rd okafNr 'kS{kf.kd ;ksX;rk izkIr djuk vko';d gksxk**;
dks fuEuor~ izfrLFkkfir fd;k tkrk gS %& ^^U;wure 'kS{kf.kd ;ksX;rk %& ^^vH;fFkZ;ksa dks vk;ksx esa vkosnu izkIr gksus dh vafre frfFk rd Lukrd vFkok led{k mRrh.kZ gksuk vfuok;Z gksxkA mDr vfuok;Z ;ksX;rk ds vfrfjDr vH;fFkZ;ksa dks eSfVªd@10oha d{kk ,oa baVjehfM,V@10$2 d{kk >kj[k.M jkT; esa vofLFkr ekU;rk izkIr 'kS{kf.kd laLFkku ls mRrh.kZ gksuk vfuok;Z gksxk rFkk vH;FkhZ dks LFkkuh; jhfr&fjokt] Hkk"kk ,oa ifjos'k dk Kku gksuk vfuok;Z gksxkA ijUrq ;g fd >kj[k.M jkT; dh vkj{k.k uhfr ls vkPNkfnr vH;fFkZ;ksa ds ekeys esa >kj[k.M jkT; esa vofLFkr ekU;rk izkIr 'kS{kf.kd laLFkku ls eSfVªd@10oha d{kk rFkk baVjehfM,V@10$2 d{kk mRrh.kZ gksus laca/kh izko/kku f'kfFky jgsxkA** The next challenge is to Rule 7 of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Examination (Graduate Level) Conduct (Amendment) Rules, 2021 by which from Paper-II which is a compulsory subjects 'Hindi' and 3 'English' have been removed. The concerned Rule is extracted and quoted hereunder as:
"7- >kj[k.M deZpkjh p;u vk;ksx ijh{kk ¼Lukrd Lrj½ lapkyu fu;ekoyh] 2015 ¼;Fkk la'kksf/kr] 2016½ ds fu;e&10 esa fuEukafdr izko/kku gSa %& ^^i=&2&fgUnh@vaxzsth@mnwZ@laFkkyh@[email protected]¼eq.Mk½@gks@[kfM+;k@ dqMq¡[k¼mjkao½@dqjekyh@[kksjBk@ukxiqjh@iapijxfu;k@mfM+;kA foHkkxh; ladYi la[;k 5726 fnukad 05-07-2016 ds n~okjk >kj[k.M deZpkjh p;u vk;ksx ijh{kk ¼Lukrd Lrj½ fu;ekoyh] 2016 ds fu;e&10 eq[; ijh{kk ds i=&2 esa vafdr Hkk"kkvksa esa laLd`r Hkk'kk dks lfEefyr fd;k x;k gS**;
dks fuEuor~ izfrLFkkfir fd;k tkrk gS %& ^^i=&2& fpfUgr {ks=h;@tutkrh; Hkk'kk fpfUgr 12 ¼ckjg½ {ks=h;@tutkrh; Hkk'kk&mnwZ@laFkkyh@ [email protected]¼eq.Mk½@gks@[kfM+;k@dq¡Mq[k¼mjkao½@dqjekyh@[kksjBk@ukxiqjh@ iapijxfu;k@mfM+;k esa ls fdlh ,d Hkk'kk dh ijh{kk fodYi ds vk/kkj ij vH;FkhZ ns ldsaxAs ** Issue notice to the respondents and also to the Learned Advocate General.
Learned Advocate General is present and waives notice on his behalf as well on behalf of the State authorities.
As prayed, put up this matter on 21.12.2021 enabling the State to file appropriate counter affidavit and produce the concerned file for perusal of this Court showing under what circumstances those decisions have been taken by the State as it is being alleged by the writ petitioner that under the garb of these substitution/amendments in the concerned Rules, 100% reservation in State of Jharkhand is contemplated.
In above view of the matter, as serious challenge has been made to the validity of the concerned Rules being in the teeth of the provisions of the Constitution of India, we deem it desirable that all the exams/selection process being done in the concerned amended Rules would be subject to the result of this writ petition and this should be well reflected in the 4 advertisement made for the purpose by the authorities who are engaged in selection process/examination conducting authority.
(Dr. Ravi Ranjan, C.J.) (Sujit Narayan Prasad, J.) Raman/VK