| HC dismisses petition, directs to proceed ahead with fresh selection process | | Petition challenging cancellation of selection process of J&K Bank POs, BAs | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
SRINAGAR, Mar 22: Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey of J&K High Court while dismissing the petition challenging the cancellation of POs, directed J&K Bank to proceed ahead with the fresh selection process initiated in terms of the impugned advertisement notice.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey after hearing Jahangir Iqbal Ganai, Sr. Adv with Humaira Shafi, Advocate for the petitioners whereas D. C. Raina, Advocate General with Sajjad Ashraf, GA and Sunil Sethi, Sr. Advocate with Adv Navyug Sethi for the respondents, observed that petitioners have taken a positive stand in their writ petitions which was reiterated by their senior counsel while making submissions, that no vested right of selection/ appointment is created in favour of petitioners merely because they participated in the selection process, however, they question the cancellation on the ground that the infirmities or irregularities, if any, in the selection process in question could have been set right by some other administrative means, therefore, the cancellation done was unreasonable.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey further observed that this stand of the petitioners itself takes care of the first question that the petitioners are not clothed with any right much less an indefeasible right to seek selection/ appointment against a post which initially had been advertised by the respondents and subsequently withdrawn/ scrapped or cancelled.
Therefore, it is held that the petitioners are not having any indefeasible right to seek continuation of the selection process which stood cancelled.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey further observed that as far as the authority of the respondents to cancel the selection process is concerned, this aspect also stands literally admitted by the petitioners that the respondents had the authority to cancel it but their contention is that it was unwarranted as the defects, if any in the selection process, could have been cured by some other administrative means.
Furthermore, it needs no reiteration that since the selection process had not been completed; the petitioners have no right to dispute the decision of the respondents to go for a denovo exercise. It is beaten law of the land that a job aspirant does not have any right to seek appointment even if his name figures in the select list.
In the present case, however, the selection process had not even culminated; therefore, the challenge laid to the impugned action of the respondents is impermissible.
The question as to whether the cancellation had reasonableness attached with it, also finds its answer in the above paragraph wherein the court enumerated the whole situation in which the process came to be cancelled.
The impugned cancellation, therefore, is held to have had the reasonableness attached with it and it was not arbitrary.
With these observations, High Court held the petitions are without any merit and dismissed the petition and directed the respondents shall proceed ahead with the fresh selection process initiated in terms of the impugned advertisement notice. (JNF) |
|
