Jharkhand High Court
Jharkhand Public Service Commission vs The State Of Jharkhand & Ors on 8 June, 2022
Author: Kailash Prasad Deo
Bench: Kailash Prasad Deo
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
[Civil Writ Jurisdiction]
W.P.(C) No. 5537 of 2009
Jharkhand Public Service Commission .... .. ... Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Ors. .. ... ... Respondents
...........
CORAM :HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KAILASH PRASAD DEO .........
For the Petitioner- JPSC : Mr. Abhay Prakash, Advocate For the respondents-State : Mr. Devesh Ajmani, AC to Sr. S.C.-II ......
11/ 08.06.2022. Heard, learned counsel for the parties.
Petitioner- Jharkhand Public Service Commission has preferred the instant writ petition for quashing the orders dated 05.03.2009 and 20.03.2009, passed by learned State Information Commissioner, Jharkhand in Appeal No.666/2007, which has been brought on record as Annexures- 9 and 10 whereby the learned State Information Commissioner has directed to provide the information to the respondent no.3.
Learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Abhay Prakash has submitted that information, which has been sought by the respondent no.3 herein/ information seeker, who is an Advocate that has been brought on record as Annexure-2 at page 33, which is the marks obtained by the candidates, who were called for personal interview in written test and personal interview separately.
Learned counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Abhay Prakash has placed the judgment passed by the Apex Court in the case of Union Public Service Commission and Others vs. Angesh Kumar and Others, reported in (2018) 4 SCC 530, Para 9 of which may profitably be quoted hereunder:-
"9.Weighing the need for transparency and accountability on the one hand and requirement of optimum use of fiscal resources and confidentiality of sensitive information on the other, we are of the view that information sought with regard to marks in Civil Services Exam cannot be directed to be furnished mechanically. Situation of exams of other academic bodies may stand on different footing. Furnishing raw marks will cause problems as pleaded by the UPSC as quoted above which will not be in public interest. However, if a case is made out where the Court finds that public interest requires furnishing of information, the Court is certainly entitled to so require in a given fact situation. If rules or practice so require, certainly such rule or practice can be enforced. In the present case, direction has been issued without considering these parameters."
Learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Abhay Prakash has thus submitted, that information sought by the information seeker disclosing the marks of the persons in the written examination, who have been called for the personal interview will jeopardize the interest of the JPSC.
-2-Learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Abhay Prakash has further submitted, that I.A. No.282 of 2014 has been filed in this case, where it has been stated at para 5, which may profitably be quoted hereunder:-
"5. That, it is stated that during the course of hearing it was brought into the notice of the learned State Information Commission that the instant selection process i.e. 1 st Combined Civil Services Examination is being investigated by the C.B.I. in the light of order passed by this Hon'ble High Court in W.P.(PIL) No.3594 of 2011 and in view of Section 8(1)(h), the information as sought for by Appellant/ Respondent No.3 cannot be provided."
This Court has considered the same and it has found that JPSC is not at par with the Union Public Service Commission. It has been asked to the learned counsel for the petitioner- JPSC that how many examination, the JPSC has conducted since the establishment of the JPSC and how many examinations are under the scanner of the investigation.
Learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Abhay Prakash has further submitted, that petitioner- JPSC has filed affidavit in W.P.(C) No.5070 of 2008 disclosing that how many cases are under the CBI and how many cases are under the Vigilance investigation, as such, this Court is of the opinion that the judgment passed by the Apex Court in the case of Union Public Service Commission (supra) is not coming in the way for the JPSC for rescue. The information with regard to the marks of written examination of the candidates called for personal interview will not jeopardize the interest of the JPSC, rather the same will make the organization transparent to earn confidence of the people at large as JPSC is under scanner for the past credential. Considering such conduct of the petitioner- JPSC, this Court is not inclined to consider JPSC at par with the UPSC, as such, judgment relied by the learned counsel for the petitioner is hereby distinguished from the fact of the case stated above, as such, the impugned order does not suffer from any illegality.
Accordingly, the instant writ petition being devoid of merit is hereby dismissed.
I.A. No.2514 of 2012 stands closed.
(Kailash Prasad Deo, J.) R.S.