Pramath Patnaik, J. - (1.) The petitioner, by way of this writ application, has prayed for direction commanding upon the respondents to consider the appointment of the petitioner on the post of Constable from Koderma district and the petitioner has further prayed to hold and declare that the petitioner has been subjected to discrimination and his fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 14 and 16 (1) of the Constitution of India have been violated and further prayer has been made for quashing the entire selection process and appointments.
(2.) The facts of the case, in a nutshell, are that the petitioner has passed Bihar Secondary School Examination, 1994 in second division, as will be evident from the certificate no. 0367288 dated 31.10.1994 issued by the Secretary of Bihar School Examination Board and thereafter he appeared in the Annual intermediate Arts Examination, 1997 and passed the same in 3rd division as is evident from the certificate no. 002238 dated 30.05.1997 issued by the Secretary of Bihar Intermediate Education Council. It has been further submitted that under the provisions of Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (For Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1991, the petitioner is 'Bind' by caste, as is mentioned in the second schedule of the said Act, which is evident from the caste certificate dated 27.11.2003 issued by the Block Development Officer, Sahibganj. The residential certificate dated 25.11.2003 issued by the Circle Officer, Sahibganj will show that petitioner is a permanent resident of village-Rampur Wasula, P.S.- Sahibganj (M), District-Sahibganj. It has been further submitted that the State Government published an advertisement bearing no. 01/2004 dated 13.1.2004 in the daily newspaper 'Hindustan' inviting applications from the competent candidates to fill up 12741 posts of constables in 22 districts off the State and the last date of filling the form was fixed as 15.2.2004. In response to the said advertisement, the petitioner filled up the application form from Chatra District and on being found successful in all the written and physical examinations, he was selected and accordingly, the Respondent no. 5 issued a letter dated 5.4.2007, directing him to appear at the Police center, Chatra on 7.4.2007 and in the said letter, it was also stipulated that once again the petitioner would be subjected to physical measurement and medical examination. The petitioner, accordingly, appeared before the Police center, Chatra and on measurement the concerned expert found that the petitioner had only 172.7 cms. of chest and about 108 candidates including the petitioner were not appointed, wherein, some of them due to less chest measurement, some for height measurement, some for educational qualifications etc. were not appointed. Being aggrieved, the petitioner approached the selection committee and the members and the chairman of the selection committee assured the petitioner that he would be appointed because he was fulfilling the requisite measurement of the chest according to the advertisement and his name would appear in the 02nd list. However, to the utter surprise and consternation of the petitioner, his name did not appear in the said list and about 60 of them were appointed by the respondents, which is evident from a news item published in the daily newspaper 'Hindustan' dated 23.02.2008. Thereafter, the petitioner again met the respondents and they assured that his roll code would appear in the 3rd list but, again in the 3rd list, published on 15.02.2009, his roll code did not appear and the petitioner learned that most of the candidates of 3rd list, who were appointed, had only 170 or 170.5 cm of chest. The petitioner left with no alternative and efficacious remedy has been constrained to knock the door of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for redressal of his grievances.
(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner has strenuously urged that the petitioner has been subjected to discrimination and his fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 14 and 16 (1) of the Constitution of India were flagrantly violated because of the fact that many of the candidates of 3rd list whose chests were only 170 or 170.5 cm were appointed, whereas, the petitioner whose chest was 172.5 cm was excluded from appointment and his candidature was rejected. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted with vehemence that the petitioner is entitled for consideration for his appointment because he possesses all the requisite qualifications and has passed all the physical and written examinations. Learned counsel further submits that the entire selection process and appointments is vitiated in view of the judgment reported in 2002 (3) JCR 188 and the notification no. 5776 dated 10.10.2002.;