BHUVANENDRAPRASAD T. R. Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order of mine shall dispose of two Writ Petitions. WP(C) No.14276 of 2022 titled as the Kerala High Tension and Extra High Tension Industrial Electricity Consumers' Association and others v. State of Kerala (hereinafter called the first petition) wherein petitioner No.2 George Thomas, a candidate is a party himself. WP(C) No.15463 of 2022 is titled as Bhuvanendraprasad.T.R. v. State of Kerala (hereinafter called the second petition).

(2.) George Thomas, petitioner No.2, in the first Petition and Bhuvanendraprasad.T.R. Petitioner in the second petition submitted applications in response to the notification dtd. 22/2/2021 inviting applications for appointment to the post of member of Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission to the Chief Secretary specifying certain conditions referred to therein. Having not been shortlisted for the interview have approached this Court on various grounds.

(3.) The facts in brief are that the Government of Kerala vide notification dtd. 22/2/2021 invited applications as per the provisions of Sec. 85 of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") for filling up the post of member in the aforementioned Commission strictly in terms of the provisions of Sec. 84(1) of the Act specifying not only the eligibility, but ability, integrity and having adequate knowledge, capacity and acumen to deal with the problems relating to Engineering, Finance, Commerce, Economics, Law or Management. The age fixed as per the provisions of Sec. 89(1) of the Act was that a candidate should have not exceeded 65 years of age. The last date for receipt of the applications was 23/3/2021. The conditions required to be fulfilled by the candidates were many amongst the one, which is relevant for adjudication in the present Writ Petitions is that, a candidate if employee of a State or a Central Government, autonomous bodies, holding judicial positions etc. would forward the application form along with the vigilance clearance and Annual Confidential Report (ACR) for the last three years and in case the applicants who had already and as per condition No.(iii) under the notes, retired from the service of the State/Central Government or autonomous body within the last two years are also required to arrange to submit the ACR for the last three years of service. The pith and substance of the notification for the working or the retired employees was the same viz.a. viz. submission of the ACR for the last three years. Both the applicants i.e., petitioner No.2 in first Petition and petitioner in the second Petition, had submitted applications. The apprehension expressed by the petitioner in the second Petition primarily was on the ground that he had completed the age of 60 and therefore, he would not be considered for a candidature. Besides the aforementioned ground, it was also alleged that the Committee was not fully constituted as the Chairman did not participate in the proceedings and many candidates selected for final interview had also not complied with the submission of the ACRs which is now evident from the counter affidavit filed by the Kerala State Electricity Board.