Orissa High Court
Unknown vs Heard Mr.Budhadev Routray on 21 August, 2020
Author: S. Panda
Bench: S. Panda
W.P.(C) No. 19003 of 2020
2. 21.08.2020 Due to outbreak of COVID-19, this matter is
taken up through Video Conferencing.
1. Heard Mr.Budhadev Routray, learned Senior
Advocate along with learned counsel for the petitioner
and Mr.Manoj Kumar Khuntia, learned Additional
Government Advocate appearing for the State opposite
parties.
2. Petitioner, who was an aspirant for the post of
Civil Judge in Odisha Judicial Service under Law
Department by direct recruitment has prayed inter alia
for a direction to the opposite parties for consideration
of her candidature to the post of Civil Judge on the
ground that in the Odisha Judicial Service Examination
for the year 2018-19, she was qualified in the main
examination and the viva voice test. Though she
qualified in the said examination her marks were tied
with another candidate and on the basis of the marks in
the main examination other candidate got selected and
was appointed in the post of Civil Judge. In the said
selection process, one of the candidates, namely,
ss
Shrabani Acharya, who was at rank 18 and was
appointed, had resigned from the post of Civil Judge in
the meantime. Her resignation has also been accepted
by opposite party No.2-Principal Secretary, Law
Department, Bhubaneswar. Consequently, the said post
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has fallen vacant, in which the petitioner prays for
consideration of her candidature.
3. In the above regard, representations dated
02.08.2019 (Annexure-8) and 01.08.2020 (Annexure-9)
are pending before the Chairman, Odisha Public Service
Commissioner (OPSC), Cuttack and the Principal
Secretary, Law Department, Government of Odisha,
Bhubaneswar respectively. It is therefore prayed that
necessary direction may be made to those authorities
for disposal of her representations.
4. Learned Additional Government Advocate
submits that the selection list against which the
petitioner wants to be appointed has spent its force and
has lapsed in the meantime. Therefore, prayer for
consideration of her name does not arise. However,
since the representations are pending before the
authorities, necessary direction may be made for
disposal of the same.
5. Having heard learned counsel for the parties
and considering the limited nature of prayer for disposal
of representations, this Court observes that the
authorities may consider the case of the petitioner in
accordance with statutory rules within a period of four
weeks from the date of production of an authenticated
copy of this order downloaded from the website of this
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Court, which shall be treated at par with certified copy
in the manner prescribed in this Court's Notice No.4587
dated 25.03.2020.
6. This Court makes it clear that it has not
expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.
The writ petition is disposed of with the
observation as aforesaid.
.......................
S. Panda, J.
................................ K.R. Mohapatra, J.
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