Hemant Gupta, J. - (1.) THE present writ petition is preferred by 3 petitioners i.e. Jarnail Singh, Joginder Pal and Surinder Kumari, candidates for appointment to Punjab Civil Services (Judicial Branch) pursuant to advertisement dated 08.10.1998. Petitioner No. 1 belongs to Backward Class, whereas petitioners No. 2 and 3 belong to the category of Scheduled Castes. All the petitioners qualified written test by securing more than 45% marks and were called for viva voce. The names of the petitioners appear as the candidates recommended for the appointment in the result publishes in the Punjab Government Gazette on 04.10.1999 All the petitioners had obtained more than 45% marks but less than 50% marks in the aggregate of written test and viva voce. The petitioners were not offered appointment in view of the decision of this Court communicated on 08.11.1998 to the Government of Punjab. The relevant extract from the communication reads as under: Hon'ble the Chief Justice and Judges have beer pleased to decide that a candidate who had secured less than 50% marks in the aggregate of written and viva may not be appointed to the Punjab Civil Service (Judicial Branch) unless there are very compelling reasons to lower the standard. Brief background leading to issuance of such letter needs to be stated. The appointment to Punjab Civil Service (Judicial Branch) is governed by the Punjab Civil Services (Judicial Branch) Rules, 1951 (for short 'the Rules'). The Rules have undergone many amendments, but for the purposes of present writ petition, the relevant extract from Part C of the same particularly as it existed prior to 1989; as substituted on 10.04.1989 and later amended or 04.06.1991 and unchanged Part D of the Rules reads as under: Part -C
(2.) THE interpretation of the Rules in question is not res -integra. Such Rules came up for consideration in CWP No. 1313 of 1986 titled 'Ram Bhagat v. State of Haryana & another' decided on 05.06.1987. The challenge in the said petition before this Court was to fixing of minimum standard of total marks for interview/viva voce in Rule 8, inter alia, for the reason that it is irrational and that the provisions fixing identical qualifying marks as 55% both for general and Scheduled Castes candidates is illegal. Such Rule as it existed in Haryana, is pari materia with Rule 8 introduced in Punjab vide notification dated 10.04.1989. The Division Bench of this Court held that Rule 8 is for judging the fitness or suitability of a candidate for the job and merely because some candidates, who could not possibly qualify, does not mean either that any legal right of theirs' has been affected or that any prejudice is caused to them. Thus Rule 8 was not found to be invalid. While examining the condition of obtaining 55% marks in the aggregate of written test including viva voce even by Scheduled Castes candidates, the Court found that there is no obligation upon the respondents to recruit the Scheduled Castes candidates by relaxing the standard for the purpose laid down in the Rule. In an appeal against the said order, the Supreme Court in Ram Bhagat Singh & another v. State of Haryana & another decided on 04.09.1990 reported as : (1997) 11 SCC 417, considered the argument that fixation of the identical standard of marks for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as General category, results in denial of opportunity to such candidates. The Court noticed that though high efficiency in the judicial service is required, that is to say, for prospective judicial officers, who will be in charge of administration of justice in the country, but at the same time, if possible, in order to ensure that there is equality of opportunity, a percentage should be fixed which without, in any way, compromising with the efficiency required for the job, will be attainable by backward communities. It was found that there is nothing on record to indicate that this percentage was fixed on an analysis and careful examination and determination of the relevant principles. In view of such finding, the judgment of this Court, as mentioned above, was modified and the Government was directed to consider as to what should be minimum percentage of marks necessary for the efficiency of administration of justice in respect of Scheduled Caste and Backward Class candidates. The relevant extract reads as under : 6. In that view of the matter, in our opinion, in the interest of justice and our constitutional mandates and in the light of the efficiency of the services and with a view to create a sense of justice, it is necessary for the Government concerned to consider this question as to what should be the minimum percentage of marks necessary for the administration. We direct that the Government will make a conscious decision objectively before the next selections for the post in Haryana Judicial Service take place, and determine a minimum percentage of marks consistent with efficiency and the need for ensuring equality of opportunity to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
(3.) AFTER the aforesaid judgment, the Rules were amended in Punjab vide notification dated 04.06.1991 contemplating that no candidate shall be called for viva voce test unless he obtains at least 50% qualifying marks in the aggregate of all the written papers, it being 45% marks for Scheduled Caste and Backward Class candidates [Rule 7(2)]. The merit of the qualified candidates is required to be determined by the Punjab Public Service Commission as per the aggregate marks obtained in the written papers and viva voce [Rule 8] as amended in the year 1991;