Service law – Recruitment – Recruitment to the posts of Lower Division Clerk-LDC in the Kerala Water Authority – Notification by Kerala Public Service Commission-KPSC – Qualification prescribed was Certificate in Data Entry and Office Automation from the named Institute or from similar/equivalent government approved institution – Stand of KPSC, in the earlier round that DCA was not a qualification to be considered eligible for appointment to the post of LDC – However, later, KPSC adopted a stand that a higher qualification was not barred, and considered candidates with DCA/higher qualification also while preparing the probability list – Candidates with Diploma in Computer Applications-DCA/higher qualifications, if eligible for appointment to the post of LDC:
Held: A State instrumentality seized of the solemn responsibility of making selections to public services must maintain a high standard of probity and transparency and is not expected to remain nebulous as to its norms or resort to falsehoods before the Court, contrary to what it had stated in its earlier sworn affidavits – KPSC, with its vacillating and dithering stance, largely responsible for this long-pending litigation, impacting the lives, hopes and aspirations of nearly twelve hundred candidates – KPSC, changed its stance, without any foundational inquiry to determine the superiority of the so-called higher qualifications over the prescribed qualification – It was a purely whimsical and arbitrary exercise of discretion on its part without actual application of mind as per required parameters – KPSC to desists, from trifling with the lives, hopes and aspirations of candidates who seek public employment – Furthermore, on basis of the Rules of 2011 and the Notification, it is clear that a Certificate in Data Entry and Office Automation from a Government approved similar/equivalent institution would be valid – Equivalence is, not of the qualification itself but of the institution from which the said Certificate in Data Entry and Office Automation is obtained – Thus, no error committed by the Division Bench of the High Court in confirming the view taken by the Single Judge of the High Court, non-suiting candidates with DCA/higher qualifications who aspired for selection to the post of LDC – Kerala Water Authority (Administrative, Ministerial and Last Grade) Service Rules, 2011. [Paras 15-17, 21, 25, 27, 28] Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1958 – Kerala Water Authority (Administrative, Ministerial and Last Grade) Service Rules, 2011 – Applicability, in matter pertaining to selection to the post of Lower Division Clerk in the Kerala Water Authority:
Held: Rules of 2011 are Special Rules for the Kerala Water Authority – Thus, to the extent the Rules of 2011 make special provision as to the qualification required for a particular post, the same would prevail over the general rule pertaining to qualifications in Part II of the Rules of 1958, subject to r. 10(a)(ii) of the Rules of 1958 which, prevails over the Special Rules also – Furthermore, given the phraseology of the Rules of 2011, the Rules of 1958 will not have general and all-pervasive applicability at the stage of direct recruitment even before a candidate is selected and appointed to any of the posts in the categories covered by the Rules of 2011, i.e., before he/she becomes an ‘employee’ of the Kerala Water Authority – Also, Rule 2 in Part II of the Rules of 1958, titled ‘Relation to the Special Rules’, states that if any provision in the General Rules contained in Part II thereof is repugnant to a provision in the Special Rules applicable to any particular service contained in Part III thereof, the latter shall, in respect of that service, prevail over the provision in the General Rules in Part II of the Rules of 1958. [Para 13]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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