Holding

Provisional selection does not confer an indefeasible right to appointment and the Tribunal erred in quashing the entire panel; appointments may be made to the vacancies that exist, respecting merit and reservation.

Summary

The Railway Board issued a notification for 330 Group‑D "Khalasis" posts, later increasing the vacancies to 917 without a fresh public notice. After interviews, a panel of 917 candidates was published. The Central Administrative Tribunal quashed the panel on grounds of the unnotified increase in vacancies and the arbitrary awarding of 80% marks, but the Madras High Court reversed that order, directing appointments to be made from the panel based on merit and reservation. The Supreme Court held that inclusion in the provisional panel does not give candidates an indefeasible right to appointment and the State is under no legal duty to fill all vacancies; however, the Tribunal was wrong to discard the entire panel, especially since the candidates were not impleaded. The Court affirmed the High Court’s direction to appoint candidates to the available vacancies respecting reservation norms and dismissed both Special Leave Petitions.

Issues considered

Whether candidates named in a provisional selection panel acquire an indefeasible right to appointment.
Whether the State is legally obligated to fill all advertised vacancies.
Whether increasing vacancies from 330 to 917 without a fresh notification is valid.
Whether awarding 80% marks without detailed guidelines is arbitrary.
Whether the selected candidates should have been impleaded as parties before the Tribunal.
Whether the High Court’s order to appoint only to available vacancies on merit is lawful.

Subjects

recruitmentvacanciesselection panelindefeasible rightadministrative tribunalreservationprocedural fairnessrailwaygroup DKhalasis

Judgment

ALL INDIA SC AND ST EMPLOYEES ASSN. AND ANR. A
v.
A. ARTHUR JEEN AND ORS.

APRIL 12, 2001

[S. RAJENDRABABU AND SHIVARAJ V. PATIL, JJ.) B

SeTVice Law :

India Railway Establishment Manual :

Employment-Notification-Issue of-Post of 'khalasis' (Group D)-
c
330 vacancies notified-Subsequently, vacancies increased to 917 without
notification-After inteTView panel ofselected candidates published-Adminis-
trative Tribunal quashed entire selection list-But High Court reversed this
judgment-Vested rights ofselected candidates-Existence of-Held: Selected
candidates do not acquire any indefeas.ible rights for appointment even against D
existing vacancies-State is under no legal duty to fill up any or all vacancies-
However, enormous money and man-hours have been spent in preparing the
panel of selected candidates-Hence, Tribunal not justified in quashing the
entire penal of selected candidates.

'Khalasis '-Selection of-Awarding of 80% marks without any guide-
E
lines-Validity of-Held: Awarding of 80% marks under different heads is not
arbitrary especially when recruitment is to the Group 'D' post of 'Khalasis'.

Central Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 : Section 19.
F
Selection list of candidates-Challenge of--Non-impleadment of neces-
sary party-Maintainability of-Selected candidates not impleaded-Effect
of-Held : Some of the ·successful candidates at least ought to have been
impleaded in a representative capacity-Hence, application liable to be dis-
missed-Practice and Procedure.
G
The Railway Board issued Employment notification inviting appli-
cation for 330 posts of 'Khaiasis' (Group D). Subsequently, the vacancies
were increased to 917 but no notification was issued in this regard. After
interview a penal of 917 selected candidates was published in the newspa-
pers. H
1183

•.
1184 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A Original applications .were filed before the Central Administrative
Tribunal challenging the aforesaid selection of the candidates. But the
selected candidates were not made parties before the Tribunal. The Tribu-
nal quashed the panel of selected candidates on the grounds that the
vacancies were increased without notifying the same and that the marking
pattern of 80% marks without guidelines had led to wide variations. The
B
High Court reversed this judgment. Hence this Special Leave petition.

Dismissing the petition, the Court

HELD : 1. Merely because the names of the candidates were in-
C eluded in the panel indicating their provisional selection, they did not
acquire any indefeasible right for appointment even against the existing
vacancies and the S~ate is under no legal duty to fill up all or any of the
vacancies. [1190-C]

Shankarsan Dash v. Union of India, [1991] 3 SCC 471, relied on.
D
2. No fault can be found with the direction of the High Court to issue
appointments only to available vacancies on merit out of the candidates
included in the panel of selected candidates following rules of reservation.
Further, the purpose of issuing notification and giving due publicity is to
provide opportunity to as many eligible candidates as possible. It was quite
E probable that all candidates eligible and interested including a large number
oflocal candidates applied for the posts. The time gap between the original
notification and the decision to increase posts not being much, it cannot be
said that many of the eligible candidates were deprived of applying for the
posts looking to the requirements of eligibility. The candidates and their
F families have been waiting for a long time with great hopes of getting jobs.
Enormous money and man-hours have been spent in completing the proc-
ess of selection in preparing the panel of selected candidates. Therefore, "'
there was no justification for the Tribunal to quash entire panel of selected
candidates. [1191-A-E)
G 3. Before the Administrative Tribunal the successful candidates whose
names were included in the panel of selection were not made parties. The
argument that since the names and particulars of the successful candidates
included in the panel were not given, they could not be made parties, has
no force. The applicants before the Tribunal could have made efforts to get
H the particulars; at least they ought to have impleaded some of the success-
ALLI NDIA SC & ST EMPLOYEE ASSN. v. A. ARTIIUR JEEN [SHIVARAJ V. PATIL, J.] 1185

- ful candidates may be in a representative capacity; if large number of
candidates were there and if there was any difficulty in service of notices
on them, they could have taken appropriate steps to serve them by any one
A

of the modes permissible in law with the leave of the Tribunal.
(1191-G-H; 1192-A]

Prabodh Venna v. State of U.P., [1984] 4 SCC 251 and A.M.S. Sushanth B
v. M. Sujatha, (2000] 10 SCC 197, relied on.

4. Having regard to the nature of different heads for which 80 %
marks were to be awarded and that too for filling up of Group 'D' posts of
'Khalasis ', it cannot be said that there could be wide variance or arbitrari-
ness in awarding the marks. [1193-G]
c
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Special Leave Petition (C) No.
14656 of 2000.

From the Judgment and Order dated 10.4.2000 of the Madras High
D
Court iu WP. No. 16766 of 1999.

WI1H

Special Leave Petition (C) No. 2377 of 200 I.

K.R. Chowdhary, A.L. Somayaji, Ranjit Kumar, Ms. Prabha Swami, E
Krishnamurthi Swami, Jayesh B. Dolia, Ambrish Kumar, Ms. Anita Verma
and Mrs. Anil Katiyar for the appearing parties.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

SHlVARAJ V. PATIL, J. In these Special Leave Petitions, the judg- F
ment and order dated 10.4.2000 passed by the Division Bench of Madras
High Court in Writ Petition Nos.16766-16772of1999, 17167, 17878, 18834
& 20598 of 1999 and 4064 of 2000 are under challenge. S.L.P. No. 14656
of 2000 is filed by the applicants iu 0.A. No. 93/99 before the Central
Administrative Tribunal, Chennai Bench who were the respondents iu the writ G
petition before the High Court. S.L.P. No. 2377 of 2001 is filed by the
petitioners in W.P. No. 16766 of 2000 in the writ petition before the High
Court.

In short, the facts and events leading to filing of these Special Leave
Petitions are :- H
1186 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A The Railway Board issued Employment Notification No. 1 of 1995
dated 7.9.1995 inviting applications for 330 posts of Khalasis (Group-D)
reserving 19% of posts for Scheduled Castes, 1% for Scheduled Tribes and
-
27% for OBCs besides 3% for Physically Handicapped and 20% for Ex-
Servicemen. In response to the Notification, 58,675 applications were re-
ceived, out of them 32,563 candidates were found eligible and called for
B
interview. The Railway Board by its letter dated 17.5.1996 communicated its
decision to prepare a panel for 917 vacancies on the ground of increase of
vacancies from 330 to 917. The selection of candidates was to be made on
viva voce test only. The candidates were interviewed from July 1996 to
February 1997 by different committees. The composition of the committees
C was challenged in O.A. No. 28/1997 before the Central Administrative
Tribunal, Chennai Bench. The Tribunal by its order dated 17.9.1997 struck
down the Railway Board's instructions on the basis of which committees were
constituted for interview. Thereafter the Railway board issued fresh instruc-
tions on 29.4.1998 for constituting committees as per para 179 of the Indian
D Railway Establishment Manual (l.R.E.M.). The second round of interviews
were conducted afresh from 26.06.1998 to 28.09.1998 for 75 days by
different committees. Out of 32,563 candidates, only 25,271 candidates
appeared for the interview. Another O.A. No. 543/1998 was filed seeking
direction that the course completed Act Apprentices should be given prefer-
ence but the same was dismissed on 17.9.1998. Ultimately merit list was.
E published on 22.12.1998 and a panel of 917 selected candidates was pub-
lished in the newspapers on 30.1.1999. The candidates selected we.re in-
formed about their selection.

O.A. No.93 of 1999, O.A. No. 103 of 1999, O.A. No. 153 of 1999,
O.A. No. 202 of 1999, O.A. No. 260 of 1999 and 0.A. No. 294 of 1999 were
F
filed before the Tribunal challenging the selection of the candidates. O.A. No.
367 of 1999 was filed by a selected candidate seeking direction to complete
the process and to issue appointment The respondents resisted these O.As.
on the grounds that O.As. filed in the nature of PIL were not maintainable;
the applicants could not be said to be aggrieved persons without showing
G whether they were members of the association and whether they applied for
the said posts; all the material allegations contrary to their stand made in the
O.As. were denied; that the Railway Administration did not give any particular
direction or instruction in the matterof selection and that no mala fide practice
was followed. It was also pleaded that there was no violation of settled procedure
H and guidelines; the selection was made on the basis of performance of the
ALLINDIASC& ST EMPLOYEE ASSN. ,,"A, ARIHURJEEN [SHIVARAJV. PATIL. I.] 1187
candidates in the viva voce; further there was no arbitrariness in the selection A
of candidates and that the procedure followed in the earlier selection made
in 1989-90 was followed in the present selection as well.

The Tribunal quashed the panel of selected candidates giving the
reasons that number of vacancies originally notified were 330 but the panel
of selected candidates had been drawn for 917 without earlier notifying the B
increase in vacancies; only 18 Physically Handicapped candidates had been
selected instead of 27 candidates on the basis of 3% reservation for the entire
917 posts; instead of finding the selection zone, applications of SC/STs were
received on inter-State basis and that the marking pattern in the selection in
the absence of guidelines to 80% marks had led to wide variations. Tue C
Tribunal, however, noiiced that allegations of mala fide and bias had not been
established.

Aggrieved and affected by the order of the Tribunal, the successful
candidates, who were provisiomlly selected, filed the writ petitions in the
High Court challenging the order passed by the Tribunal. The High Court, D
on a detailed examination of respective contentions raised by the contesting
parties, held that the rule of reservation was properly followed except to the
extent of shortfall by 1% in regard to the Physically Handicapped category;
the procedure prescribed in para 179 of I.R.E.M. was substantially complied
with; the awarding of marks in two categories to the extent of 80% was in E
order; that association could not agitate the case of all persons as it depended
on the facts of each individual member and that no resolution of authorization
to file the 0 .A. was produced. The High Court also observed that the Tribunal
could not act as a court of appeal in appreciating the contentions urged before
it. Having due regard to the long-drawn process involved in the selection of
candidates, the revised assessment of vacancies coming to only 382 in Group F
'D' for the period upto March 2002 and considering totality of facts and
circumstances of the case as indicated in the order under challenge, the High
Court directed the authorities to proceed with the selection made and to
appoint the selected candidates in the available vacancies. It was made clear
that the authority concerned should select and appoint 3% Physically Handi- G
capped candidates out of the candidates already selected instead of 2%.

Before us, Mr. K.R. Chowdhary, learned Senior Counsel appearing for
petitioners in S.L.P. No. 14656 of 2000, urged that the High Court failed to
appreciate that the writ petitions had become infructuous as stated in the
counter affidavit filed by the respondents in view of the fact that the Indian H
1188 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R
A Coach Factory (I.C.F.) Administration had accepted the order of the Tribunal
and cancelled the employment notification dated 7.9.1995 itself, on 3.10.1999;
after 3.10.1999 pursuant to the cancellation of the employment notification,
no right subsisted to the writ petitioners before the High Court and as such
the High Court committed an error in proceeding to decide the case; the High
Court also committed an error in holding that there was substantial compli-
B
ance of para 179 IREM; the High Court was not right in holding that non-
shortlisting and not confining preference to local candidates did not affect the
selection.

On the other hand, Mr. A.L. Somayaji, learned Senior Counsel for
c petitioners in SLP No. 237712001, made submissions supporting the order of
the High Court except to the extent of the observation made in para 34 taking
note of revised assessment of vacancies coming to only 382 in Group 'D'
for the period upto 2002, and .confining appoinunent to the available vacan-
cies only. Although originally the notification was issued to fill up 330
vacancies, later they were increased to 917 after getting the approval of the
D
Railway Board for additional 587 vacancies; since as many as 58,675
applications were received, out of t'.J.em 32,563 candidates were called for
interview and 25,271 candidates actually attended interview including large
number of local candidates, no prejudice was caused by not inviting appli-
cations for additional vacancies; as observed by the High court, selected
E candidates were made to run from pillar to post for one reason or the other J.
and they were asked to appear twice for the interview in pursuance of the
notification No. 1195 and that after a long drnwn process the panel of selected
candidates was prepared; the Tribunal committed a serious error in quashing
the panel of selected candidates in its entirety when the selected candidates
F were not irnpleaded in the O.As. On this short ground alone, the High Court
ought to have granted relief to the successful candidates fully covering all
the 917 candidates. The learned Senior Counsel also submitted that no ma/a
fides or arbitrariness was found in the procedure of selection of candidates.
He urged that there was no justification to reduce the vacancies to be filled
from 917 to 382, having prepared and published a panel of 917 selected
G candidates. He added that after the High Court passed the order, some
candidates have been appointed; it may not be appropriate to upset the
selection of candidates at this stage.

Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the
H Union of India, made submissions drawing our attention to counter-affidavit
AU.INDIASC& STEMPLOYEEASSN. v. A. ARfl!URlEEN [SIIlVARAJV. PATIL,!.] 1189
filed by the Union of India and urged that the selected candidates did not A
~ acquire any indefeasible right to be appointed against the existing vacancies
and the authorities are under no legal duty to fill up all or any of the vacancies
and particularly so when there are no vacancies to accommodate all the
candidates; the authorities accepting the decision of the Tribunal cancelled the
employment notification and subsequently after the High Court passed the
B
order, further steps were taken and about 100 out of the selected candidates
are already appointed.

We have given our consideration to the rival contentions urged on
behalf of the contesting parties. It is clear from the counter affidavits filed
on behalf of Union of India and I.C.F. Administration that after the Tribunal c
passed the order in 0.As. on 23.8.1999 and on implementation of the decision
of the Ministry of Railways to enhance the hourly rate of incentive, concur-
rently by reducing the allowed time and in terms of their letter No. PC-VI
,.._ 98/117/4/1 dated 21.6.1999 with effect from.1.9.1999, there was drastic
reduction of vacancies leading to surrendering of 866 posts of technicians
(artisans) and 327 posts of Khalasis(helpers). In the changed situation, the D
l.C.F. Administration decided to implement the order of the Tribunal quashing
the selection and issued press notification on 3.10.1999 cancelling the em-
ployment notification dated 7.9.1995 and cancelling the panel of the selected
candidates. After issuing employment notification on 7.9.1995 to cover
further two years' recruitment for subsequent years, with the approval of the .E
Ministry of Railways in 1996, it was decided to empanel 587 more candidates
in the same recruitment process. The recruitment process was getting pro-
longed due to litigation. A number of appointments on compassionate grounds
had to be made in tl1e intervening period; owing to the raising of the age of
superannuation from 58 to 60 years by the Government, there were no
F
retirements from May, 1998 to April, 2000; more than these, implementation
of Railway Board's decision to enhance the hourly rate of incentive and
reduce the allowed time by 12% resulted in reduction of vacancies both in
Group 'C' and Group 'D'. Vacancies in Group 'D' depend on arising of
vacancies in Group 'C' technicians cadre and the progression ·of Khalasis
(helpers) by Khalasis against 75% of technician vacancies; because of these G
reasons the anticipated vacancies did not materialize and the exercise of
reassessment of vacancies made in September, 1999 indicated that only 382
vacancies would be available upto March, 2002. Responding to the allegation
that these facts were not brought to the notice of the Tribunal during the
arguments in O.A. No. 93/99, it was pointed out that after the closing of H
1190 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R
A arguments before the Tribunal and on receipt of Board's instructions dated
21.6.1999 effective from 1.9.1999, the vacancies had to be re-assessed having
regard to the reduction of manpower requirements and the vacancies so
.reduced came to 382 for the period upto March, 2002; the variance between
the vacancies notified at 330 and the revised vacancies at 382 was not much.
Neither any ma/a fides were attributed nor any arbitrariness was established
B
on the part of the Railway Administration in re-assessing the vacancy
position.

Merely because the names of the candidates were included in the panel
indicating their provisional selection, they did not acquire any indefeasible
C right for appointment even against the existing vacancies and the State is
under no legal duty to fill up all or any of the vacancies as laid down by
the Constitution Bench of this Court, after referring to earlier cases in
Shankarsan Dash v. Union of India, [1991] 3 SCC 47. Para 7 of the said
judgment reads thus :-

D "It is not correct to say that if a number of vacancies are notified for
appointment and adequate number of candidates are found fit, the
successful candidates acquire an indefeasible right to be appointed
which cannot be legitimately denied. Ordinarily the notification
merely amounts to an invitation to qualified candidates to apply for
recruitment and on their selection they do not acquire auy right to the
E
post. Unless the relevant recruitment rules so indicate, the State is
under no legal duty to fill up all or any of the vacancies. However,
it does not mean that the State has the licence of acting in an arbitrary
manner. The decision not to fill up the vacancies has to be taken bona
fide for appropriate reasons. And if the vacancies or any of them are
F filled up, the State is bound to respect the comparative merit of the
candidates, as reflected at the recruitment test, and no discrimination
can be permitted. This correct position has been consistently followed
by this Court, and we do not find any discordant note in the decisions
in State of Haryana v. Subhash Chander Marwaha, [1974] 3 SCC
G 220, Neelima Shangla v. State of Haryana, [1986] 4 SCC 268 or
Jatendra Kumar v. State of Punjab, [1985] 1 SCC 122."

Hence the contentions raised in SLP No. 2377/2001 are untenable.

Similarly the contention that the vacancies to be filled up could not be
H increased to 917 from 330 originally notified without there being subsequent
ALLINDIASC & STFMPLOYEEASSN. '·A. AI<fHURJEEN (SIIlVARAJV. PATIL, 1.J 1191
notification is untenable in view of the changed situation as explained above. A
No fault can be found with the direction of the High Court to issue
appoinunents only to available vacancies on merit out of the candidates
included in the panel of selected candidates following rules of reservation and
that too reserving 3% seats to Physically Handicapped instead of 2%. 382
vacancies would be available upto March 2002 possibly as of now all the 382
B
candidates may not be given appoinunent; the appoinunents may be given
upto 330 or less. Further, the purpose of issuing notification and giving due
publicity is to provide opportunity to as many eligible candidates as possible.
The employment notification No. 111995 was issued on 7.9.1995 and the
decision was taken to increase the posts on 17 .5 .1996, the time gap was
hardly 8 months; as many as 58,675 made applications and 32,563 were c
called for interview. It was quite probable that all candidates eligible and
interested including large number of local candidates, applied for the posts.
The time gap of about 8 months between the original notification and the
decision to increase posts not being much, it cannot be said that many of the
eligible candidates were deprived of applying for the posts looking to the
D
requirements of eligibility. As already stated above, in the changed situation
only 382 posts are to be filled up upto March, 2002. The selected candidates
are to be appointed on the basis of merit following rules of reservation
applicable to different categories. The process of selection was long-drawn
and the candidates were made to appear for interview twice. The candidates
and their families have been waiting for long time from 1995 with great hope E
of getting jobs. Enormous money and man hours have oeen spent in com-
pleting the process of selection in preparing the panel of selected candidates.
In this view there was no justification for the Tribunal to quash the entire
panel of selected candidates.

Although the candidates included in the panel showing their provisional
F
selection do not get vested right to appoinunent, they will be surely interested
in protecting and defending the select list. It is the admitted position that
before the Tribunal the successful candidates whose names were included in
the panel of selection were not made parties. The argument of the learned
counsel that since the names and particulars of the successful candidates G
included in the panel were not given, they could not be made parties, has
no force. The applicants before the Tribunal could have made efforts to get
the particulars; at least they ought to have irnpleaded some of the successful
candidates may be in a representative capacity; if the large number of
candidates were there and if there was any difficulty in service of notices on H
1192 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.

A them, they could have taken appropriate steps to serve them by any one of
the modes pennissible in law with the leave of the Tribunal. This Court in
Prabodh Venna and Ors. v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. [1984] 4 SCC 251,
has held that in writ petitions filed against the State questioning the validity
of recruitment of a large number of persons in service could not be proceeded
with to hear and take decision adverse to those affected persons without
B
getting them or their representatives impleaded as parties. In para 50 of the
said judgment, summarizing the conclusions this Court in regard to impleading
of respondents has stated that :-

"A High Court ought not to hear and dispose of a writ petition under
Article 226 of the Constitution without the persons who would be
c vitally affected by its judgment being before it as respondents or at
least some of them being before it as respondents in a representative
capacity if their number is too large to join them as respondents
individually, and, if the petitioners refuse to so join them, the High
court ought to dismiss the petition for non-joinder of necessary
D parties."

This court in para 4 of the judgment in A.M.S. Sushanth & Ors. v.
M.Sujatha & Ors., [2000] 10 SCC 197, has stated thus:-

"We find that none of the persons who were selected and whose
E appointments were set aside by the High Court had been impleaded
}
as a party-respondent. It appears that a pnblic notice was given in a
representative capacity only with regard to the appointment to the
post of Assistant Sericultnre Officer. The direction of the High Court,
however, is not confined to that post alone and it is the appointments
to the other posts also which have been set aside. This could not be
F done. The principles of natnral justice demanded that any person who
was going to be adversely affected by the order should have had an
opportunity of being heard. Tbat apart, one would have expected the
High Court to have considered the report submitted under Section 65
on its merits and then decided whether the said report should be
G accepted or not."

Be that as it may, en the facts and in the circumstances of the present
cases, we do not find any merit in any one of the contentions urged on behalf
of the petitioners in S.L.P. No. 14656 of 2000.

H The High Court found that rules of reservation in regard to all other
ALL!ND!ASC& ST EMPLOYEE ASSN. v. A.ARllIURJEEN (SIIlVARAJV.PATIL,J.] !193
categories were followed and the Tribunal also found so; as regards Physi- A
cally Handicapped, the reservation was to be increased to 3% instead of 2%
among the candidates included in the panel on the basis of merits. Hence the
grievance as to increase of posts from 330 to 917 without issuing notification
was of no consequence. It is also noticed by the High Court that the large
number of applications were received and interviewed including a huge
B
number of local candidates; the employment notification of 95 had been
published in the employment exchanges in Chennai, Kanchipurarn and
Tiruvallur of the local unit of l.C.F., Chennai. Further it is also stated in the
counter affidavit that the upper age limit itself has been raised upto to 33
years besides relaxation in the age limit for reserved community candidates
and P.H./Ex.Servicemen etc. In our view, no prejudice was caused to the C
petitioners in S.L.P. No. 1465612000.

In regard to the other contention that 80% marks were awarded to the
candidates without any guidelines, the High Court has taken the view that
there was no arbitrariness in awarding 80% marks under two heads. We will .
do well to remember that the candidates were interviewed for Group 'D' posts ~ D
(Khalasis); the selection was to be made only on the basis of viva voce test.
The marks were to be awarded under the four heads as stated below.

(i) Personality I address - 40 marks
E
(ii) Ability to do the job - 40 marks.

(iii) Technical I academic qualification - 10 marks.

(iv) Sports etc. - 10 marks.

Under the head - ability to do the job, marks to be awarded was on F
the basis of the candidates ability to lift a weight of 35 kg. without any
physical strain. Marks were to be awarded looking to the technical /academic -
qualifications; so also for sports and marks were to be awarded for personality
and address. Having regard to the nature of different heads for which marks
v.:ere to be awarded that too for filling up Group D' posts of Khalasis, it
G
cannot be said that there could be wide variance or arbitrariness in awarding
marks. The procedure followed in viva voce test is again indicatOd in the reply
statement filed on behalf of the Railway Administration before the Tribunal
itself. It is stated that the interview was conducted by 3 committees with 4
members each representing SC/ST/Minority/OBC for 75 days. To maintain
secrecy, a system which was evolved in the previous selection with the H
1194 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A approval of the then Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) in the year 1989-90 for
nomination of lhe Committee Members was adopted this time also, as detailed
below:-

"On the previous day afternoon, the three selection committees with
four officers will be formed by Deputy Chief Personnel Officer/
B General [Dy. CPO/G] with due representation of SC/ST/OBC/Minor-
ity. These 12 officers will be intimated over phone by Dy. CPO/G or
through his Confidential Assistant without mentioning which commit-
tee they belong to. The sealed cover containing three committees will
be handed over to Senior Personnel Officer/Recrnittnent and training
c (SPO/R&T) and the same will be opened by SPO/R&T in the
presence of the all twelve officers on the day of viva voce after getting
signature from one or two officers on the sealed cover to acknowledge
that the sealed cover is in tact. On the first two days [viz. 22nd and
23rd June 1998] CPO has nominated the committees. Thereafter the
Dy. CPO/G. had nominated the committees. In pursuance thereof, the
D committee members will take position in !heir respective committee
rooms allocated and conduct the interviews. After lhe closure of the
interview, on each day, the signed mark statements of each committee
will be kept in a cover dulY. sigued by the officers in the outer cover
and sealed. These sealed covers will be handed over to Dy. CPO/G
E by the Personal Officer of the respective committee, for safe custody.
In the absence of Dy. CPO/G, SPO/R&T will receive and hand over )
the same to Dy. CPO/G, when he resumes duty. After the interviews
were over, a decision was taken to hand over the mark statement in
220 sealed covers to Railway Recrnittnent Board/Chennai [RRB] for
data .entry and form a draft panel following all the reservation rules
F
for SC/ST/OBC etc. The 220 sealed covers were taken to RRB by
Dy. CPO/G and .SPO/R&T in 2 sealed boxes and handed over on
12.10.1998. On 22.12.1998, the RRB returned the mark lists along
with lhe merit lists and a floppy containing date for all the 25,271
candidates. The data entries were verified and a panel of 917 selected
G candidates formed with CPO' s approval, after following the reserva-
tion rules for SC/ST/OBC/Physically Handicapped and Ex- service-
men. Thereafter, the panel was published in the Newspapers viz,
'Indian Express' and 'Daily Thanthi' on 30.01.1999. Simultaneously,
the successful candidates were informed that they have been provi-
H sionally selected for Gr. D posts and further action will follow in due
ALL INDIA SC & ST EMPLOYEE ASSN. v. A. ARTIIUR JEEN [SIIlVARAJ V. PATIL, J.J 1195
course. At this stage, lhe applicants have filed lhe present OA and this A
Hon'ble Tribunal on 08.02.1999 passed an order directing lhe re-
spondents to maintain 'status quo'."
i
S.L.P. No. 14656 of 2000 is filed by lhe petitioners in 0.A. No. 93 of
1999 before lhe Tribunal. 1n lhe said O.A., petitioner no. I was an association
named All India Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Employees Associa- B
tion and petitioner no. 2 was an individual. Tue High Court has held that such
a writ petition filed by an association was not maintainable. 1n our view it
is unnecessary to examine Ibis question in lhe light of conclusion reached on
lhe merits of the respective contentions.

The contention urged on behalf of lhe petitioners in S.L.P. No. 14656
c
of 2000 that lhe writ petitions had become infructuous in view of the fact
that l.C.F. Administration itself had cancelled the employment notification
No. I of 1995 dated 7.9.1995 accepting the judgment of lhe Tribunal cannot
,,._, be accepted. The selected candidates who were seriously affected had every
right to challenge the decision of the Tribunal on all lhe grounds available D
to them. The l.C.F. Administration by its decision to cancel the employment
notification and lhe panel of selected candidates unilaterally could not defeat
or destroy the interest of lhe successful candidates. It is also submitted before
us that the l.C.F. Administration pursuant to the judgment of lhe High court
passed in lhe writ petitions has given appointment to about 100 candidates E
~ from out of lhe panel of lhe selected candidates. This being the position, we
are of lhe view lhat lhe writ petitions had not become infructuous. The High
Court has also noticed !hat !hose candidates who had paiticipated in lhe
interview could not challenge lhe selection before the Tribunal. Thus having
regard to all aspects including the changed situation as to the reduction of
vacancies from 917 to 382 on lhe basis of lhe revised assessment of vacancies F
as already stated above, lhe impugned order passed by the High Court is just
and appropriate. 1n the light of what is stated above, we do not find any
justification or valid reason to interfere wilh lhe impugned order passed by
lhe High Court. Therefore, bolh the S.L.Ps. being devoid of any merit are
liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, they are dismissed but wilh no order as G
to costs in the circumstances of these cases.

v.s.s. Petitions dismissed.