In a case where the order of the Administrative Tribunal was questioned, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh noted that the impugned order was passed with the consent of the petitioners and they cannot be allowed to resile from such consent especially after dismissal of their review petitioner and after the failure to seek special leave from the Supreme Court.
Brief Facts:
The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (Respondent no. 2) had invited applications for the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests, Class-1 in the Department of Forests, Himachal Pradesh through an advertisement and the candidates were mandatorily required to undergo and qualify for the screening test, written test, physical standards, and walking test before being called for the interview. Certain prescribed physical standards were essential for the qualifications. For males, the requirement of chest measurement was 79 Cm without expansion and 84 Cm with expansion, and for females, it was 74 Cm without expansion and 79 Cm with expansion. It is contended that the petitioner had qualified the physical standards, whereas the private respondents had failed in the chest expansion, and in total 6 candidates, including the petitioner were called for an interview.
The private respondents approached the administrative tribunal and the tribunal ordered that the private respondents should be re-tested on chest expansion and then all of them were declared qualified. Then the interview took place and the selection took place.
Then
the petitioner approached this court against the directions of the
tribunal and then the selection of the private respondents, the same was
disposed of and even the review petition was unsuccessful. Then an SLP
was filed before the supreme court and the same was also unsuccessful.
Now the petitioner has filed the current petition and their challenge is that the rules governing the selection process nowhere mention that a re-test can be done on physical standards. Further, it has been contended that the re-test has prejudiced the rights of the petitioner and the other candidates who could not qualify.
Observations of the Court:
The Hon’ble Court has noted that a re-test on chest expansion was ordered and thereafter, the division bench of the court while disposing of the previous petition had specifically recorded that petitioners were willing to accept the offer made on behalf of the private respondents, whereby they had offered themselves for fresh chest measurement to be conducted by authorities of Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. The order was passed taking into the broad consensus between the parties. Further, the contesting private parties were allowed to witness the process of chest measurements to be carried out by the Medical Board. It was then noted that the review petition was also rejected on the ground that the order was passed on consent of the parties and then even the SLP was declined. Then the court noted that the petitioners were consenting parties and cannot be allowed to resile from such consent, especially after the dismissal of their review petition and also failure to seek special leave to appeal from the Hon’ble Supreme Court and now the petitioners cannot claim that the re-test violated rules. After giving consent to the passing of an order, the petitioners cannot be allowed to re-open the issue.
The Decision of the Court:
No merit was found and the petition was dismissed.
Coram: Justice Satyen Vaidya
Case No.: CWPOA No. 6938 of 2020
Advocates for the Petitioners: Mr. P.D. Nanda, Advocate
Advocate for the Respondents:
Mr. Arsh Rattan, Deputy Advocate General, for respondent No. 1.
Mr. Vikrant Thakur, Advocate, for respondent No. 2.
Mr. Manish Sharma, Advocate, for respondents No. 3, 4, and 6 to 8.
Name of respondent No. 5 standsdeleted.
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