Gowtham v. The Secretary To Government,
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED :16.12.2019
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE N.ANAND VENKATESH W.P.No.34616 of 2019 and WMP No.35369 of 2019 Gowtham
...Petitioner
Vs.
1.The Secretary to Government Home (Police II) Department Fort St.George, Chennai 9.
2.The Director General of Police, Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai, Mylapore, Chennai 4.
3.The Chairman, The T.N. Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, Old Commissioner of Police campus, Pantheon Road, Egmore, Chennai-8.
..Respondents Prayer:- Writ petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorari to quash the disqualification order in C.NO.R2/850/2019 dated 18.11.2019 passed by 3rd respondent and further for directing the 3rd respondents to reexamine the height of the petitioner and act accordance with law and to consider the representation sent by the petitioner to all the respondents mentioned above. For Petitioner : Mr.M.K.Yuganth For Respondents : Mr.P.S.Sivashanmuga Sundaram Special Government Pleader for R1 and R2 Mr.V.Kathirvel for R3
O R D E R
The issue that has been raised in this writ petition pertains to the rejection of the candidature of the petitioner, on the ground that he did not qualify the height requirement that was prescribed for the selection to the post of Police Constable Grade II, Grade II Jail Warders and Firemen. 1/5
2. The petitioner had submitted his application for the post of Police Constable Grade II, Grade II Jail Warders and Firemen. The recruitment process consists of written examination, Physical Measurement Test, Endurance Test and Physical Efficiency Test. The minimum height that was prescribed for the candidate belonging to the General Category was 170 cms and for the candidates belonging to SC/ST category, it was 167 cms. The petitioner had participated in the BC category and he had also successfully passed out in the written examination. When he was called for Physical Measurement Test, his height was found to be 169.6 cms and therefore, his candidature was rejected, since he did not fulfill the minimum height requirement.
3. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner possess the minimum height requirement and he has been illegally disqualified by showing his height just 0.4 cm below the minimum requirement. Therefore, the illegality committed on the part of the recruitment board is apparent.
4. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that the height of the petitioner can be independently assessed by this Court and an opportunity should be given to the petitioner to prove his case and to participate in the further process of selection.
5. The learned Special Government Pleader appearing on behalf of the respondents 1 & 2 submitted that the relief sought for by the petitioner is totally unsustainable. The learned counsel submitted that in the Physical Measurement Test, whenever a candidate is disqualified by the selection team, an appeal is provided to the Chairman of the Sub-committee and the entire physical measurement is again carried out. Therefore, the learned counsel submitted that there is a lot of transparency in the entire process and there is no reason for the recruitment board to discriminate among the participants.
6. The learned Special Government Pleader further submitted that if such writ petitions are entertained, it will open the floodgates and every person will come before this Court and seek for reviewing the measurement already done and there will be no end to this process. The learned Government Pleader also brought to the notice of this Court that twenty two writ petitions which were filed on the very same grounds, were dismissed by this Court and this writ petition also pertained to the present selection.
2/5
7. The learned Special Government Pleader in order to substantiate his submissions, brought to the notice of this Court the judgment of the Division Bench in W.A.No.1265 of 2017 dated 28.03.2018.
8. This Court has carefully considered the submissions made on either side and the materials available on record.
9. The only issue that requires consideration by this Court is as to whether any direction can be given to again subject the petitioner to physical measurement test and reverify his height. The entire process of selection in the Physical Measurement Test was explained by the learned Special Government Pleader. It was brought to the notice of this Court that the process of selection is also being video graphed. In order to bring transparency and in order to maintain a check and balance, in every case where a candidate is disqualified by the committee, an Appeal is provided to a committee consisting of higher level police officers. When an Appeal is made, the physical measurement test is again conducted.
10. At this juncture, it will be useful to refer to the judgment of the Hon'ble Division Bench that was cited by the learned Additional Advocate General. This Court in [M.Govindammal Vs. The Chairman, Tamil Nadu Unfiromed Services Recruitment Board, Chennai and another] in W.A(MD) No.1265 of 2017 dated 28.03.2019, while considering a very similar issue, has held as follows :-
3. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents had drawn our attention to paragraph 7 of the affidavit fled by the appellant /petitioner in support of the writ petition, where she stated that her height was 158 cms. However, in paragraph 5 of the same affidavit, it is stated " I submit that during Physical Measurement Test, the 2nd respondent measured my actual Height measurement as 159 cm. While the respondent has taken the measurement in my height, it was 158. So I was rejected for the further measurement. "Possibly, because English is not the mother tongue, grammatical errors have crept into the affidavit which made the affidavit somewhat incomprehensible. What she possibly meant was that her height was found upon physical measurement to be 159 cms, but her height was recorded as 158 cms.
4. The learned Single Bench rejected the writ petition, and perhaps rightly, observing that the petitioner / appellant had admitted that her height 3/5
was 158 cms.The Writ Court was unable to find any infirmity in the rejection of her candidature. Ordinarily, the Division Bench does not interfere in Appeal with an order that has otherwise rightly been passed. It is not for the Writ Court to go into the factual disputes as to whether the height of a candidate has correctly been recorded or not.
5. We have noted that there is no averment in the writ petition and/ or the memorandum of appeal making any suggestion of any possible reason to deliberately disqualify the petitioner by recording a lesser height. It is not for the Writ Court to sit in appeal over measurement of height, width of the Chest etc., take at the time of measurement test. The issues raised in the writ petition involve hotly disputed questions of fact.
11. The above judgment of the Hon'ble Division Bench will also squarely apply to the facts of the present case. That apart, 22 writ petitions which were filed seeking for similar relief was dismissed by another learned Single Judge. Therefore, it is important to maintain some consistency in this issue and by entertaining a writ petition of this nature, it will only open floodgates. This Court has to repose confidence in the recruitment process carried out by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Service Recruitment Board, more particularly, when the process itself provides for certain checks and balances.
12. In the result, this Court is not inclined to entertain this writ petition and accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petitions are also closed.
Sd/- Assistant Registrar //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar rka To 1.The Secretary to Government Home (Police II) Department Fort St.George, Chennai 9.
4/5
2.The Director General of Police, Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai, Mylapore, Chennai 4.
3.The Chairman, The T.N. Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, Old Commissioner of Police campus, Pantheon Road, Egmore, Chennai-8.
+1cc to Mr.M.K.Yuganth, Advocate sr.105243 +1cc to Mr.V.Kadhirvelu, Special Government Pleader sr.104852 WP No.34616 of 2019 and WMP No.35369 of 2019 spd(co) nr 14/02/2020 5/5