KABITA JENA Vs. RAJAT KUMAR MISHRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The private Opposite Parties No.1 to 16 in the above noted review petition as well as in the above noted writ petition had earlier approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No.32174 of 2022. In the said writ petition, the private Opposite Parties No.1 to 16 as Petitioners questioned the selection procedure adopted by Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) while conducting the recruitment examination for appointment to the post of Assistant Sec. Officer (ASO) in Group-B of Odisha Secretariat Service. This Court after hearing the learned counsels appearing for both the sides in the said writ petition vide a detailed judgment dtd. 19/5/2023 under Annexure-7 to the review petition allowed the writ petition. Accordingly, the select list of the short listed candidates published vide Notice dtd. 7/11/2022 by the OPSC for the next phase of the selection process, i.e., for document verification and skill test under Annexure-5 to the aforesaid writ petition was quashed. Further, this Court directed the OPSC to redraw the select list of the short listed candidates strictly in terms of Rule-6(5) and Rule-6(6) as well as the schedule appended to the Odisha Secretariat Service (Method of Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2016 on the basis of the aggregate marks secured by the candidates within a period of two months from the date of judgment.

(2.) The Petitioners, who are the candidates short listed after conclusion of the first phase of selection process and were supposed to appear in the second phase of the selection, i.e., document verification and skilled test, have approached this Court by filing the above noted review petition with a prayer to review/recall the judgment dtd. 19/5/2023 under Annexure-7 to the review petition. The above named Petitioners have also filed a writ petition as mentioned hereinabove with a prayer for review/recall of the judgment dtd. 19/5/2023 passed in the above noted writ petition. Therefore, on a careful scrutiny of both the review petition as well as the writ petition noted hereinabove, this Court observed that not only the parties are same, but also the prayer made in both the petitions are almost identical. Since both the aforesaid applications arise out of a common set of facts and the judgment dtd. 19/5/2023 has been assailed almost on identical grounds, therefore, this Court deems it proper to take up both the matters together and the same is being disposed of by this common judgment.

(3.) The factual background on which the present review petition has been filed, as narrated in the review petition, is that the OPSC published an advertisement on 31/12/2021 bearing Advertisement No.26 of 2021-22 for recruitment to the post of Assistant Sec. Officer in Group-B of Odisha Secretariat Service under Home Department. Accordingly, online applications were invited from prospective candidates. 25/2/2022 was the last date for submission of registered online application. In total 796 posts of A.S.O. in Group-B Cadre of Secretariat Service were advertised to be filled up.