SUNIL TUDU Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are aggrieved by the framing of the 'Jharkhand Rajya Police Appointment Rules, 2014"[1] superseding the provisions under the Jharkhand Police Manual for the selection and appointment of the Police Constables.

(2.) The petitioners in this batch of writ petitions are Home Guards, who can be broadly divided under three categories viz. (a) those who did not qualify for the Mains examination (b) those who were called for the Medical and Fitness tests and (c) those who are seeking age-relaxation. All of them have questioned the power of the State of Jharkhand and the legal foundation for framing the Recruitment Rules of 2014 on the ground that the Jharkhand Police Manual occupies the field of the appointment and selection of the Constables. A large number of the petitioners participated in the last recruitment exercises but could not make it to the final selection list and now they seek to challenge the appointment of the Constables on the ground that the recruitment exercises in the past were conducted in breach of the statutory provisions of the Jharkhand Police Manual. For the sake of brevity, we shall briefly refer to the writ pleadings which are as follows:

(3.) In 1st set of writ petitions[2], the petitioners contend that the Recruitment Rules of 2014 cannot be enforced and are ultra-vires to the Constitution of India. This submission is premised on the ground that there already exists the statutory Rules for appointment of the Constables which were framed in exercise of the powers under Ss. 7 and 12 of the Police Act, 1861. These petitioners seek to challenge a part of the final result based on the Mains examination on the ground that their exclusion in the final result was wholly illegal and arbitrary because they had already qualified in the Preliminary test. Consequent upon the granting of the aforesaid prayers, the petitioners are seeking permission to appear in the Physical/Medical test for being considered for appointment to the post of Constable under 50 percent reserved seats for Home Guards. In short, Sunil Tudu has approached the Court with the following prayers: