Supreme Court Reports [1962] Supp.Dr. ... vs The Governing Body Of The Nalanda ... on 15 December, 1961
It must be remembered that the petition is for a mandamus.
This Court has pointed out in Dr. Rai Shivendra Bahadur v.
The Governing Body of the Nalanda College(") that in order
that mandamus may issue to compel an authority to do
something, it must be shown that the statute imposes a legal
duty on that authority and the aggrieved party has a legal
right under the statute to enforce its performance. Since
there is no legal duty on the State Government to appoint
all the 15 persons who are in the list and the petitioners
have no legal right under the rules to enforce its
performance the petition is clearly misconceived.
It was, however, contended by Dr. Singhvi on behalf of the
respondents that since rule 8 of Part C makes candidates who
obtained 45 per cent or more in the competitive examination
eligible for appointment, the State Government had no right
to introduce a new rule by which they can restrict the
appointments to only those who have scored not less than
55%. It is contended that the State Government have acted
arbitrarily in fixing 55 per cent as the minimum for
selection and this is contrary to the rule referred to
above. The argument has no force. Rule 8 is a step in the
preparation of a list of eligible candidates with minimum
qualifications who may be considered for appointment. The
list is prepared in order of merit. The one higher in rank
is deemed
(1) [1962] (2) Suppl. S.C.R. 144.