Nimisha K.N., Krishna Kripa and Others vs The Kerala Public Service Commission and Others

K. Balakrishnan Nair, J.—The appellants are the writ petitioners They were candidates included in the rank list published on 14.7.2008 by the Public Service Commission for appointment to the post of Veterinary Surgeon Grade-II in the Animal Husbandry Department. All of them belong to Ezhava community. Going by the roster for communal reservation, the appellants found that though several Ezhava vacancies arose, none of the Ezhava candidates was advised. Aggrieved by this, the Writ Petition was filed.

The Public Service Commission submitted that Rule 15 of Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1958, was amended with effect from 2.2.2006. As per the amended rule, if a candidate is not available from a community for the post reserved for that community the said vacancy should not be filled up by advising the next community eligible for reservation in the roster as was done in the past. The said vacancy should be kept open and special recruitment should conducted. The Government also added a note to the amended rule which reads as follows:

All pending uncompensated turns of vacancies such as temporarily passed over, no candidate available and non-joining duty as on the 2nd February, 2006, shall be compensated.

The Public Service Commission submitted that there are 35 no candidates available turns remaining to be satisfied by Ezhava community as on 14.7.2006. On advising 54 candidates, some of the vacancies available for Ezhava community were allotted to those communities who lost their turns earlier for want of candidates. Even now, 27 no candidate available turns remain to be satisfied by the Ezhava community. That is the reason, why so far no Ezhava candidate has been advised.

Taking note of the above submission of the P.S.C., the learned Single Judge dismissed the Writ Petition. Feeling aggrieved by the said decision, this Writ Appeal is filed. We notice that in view of the amendment brought to the Rule 15 of the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, with effect from 2.2.2006, the stand taken by the P.S.C. is legal and valid. We find nothing wrong with the non-advice of candidates from the Ezhava community as their available turns are being allotted to compensate earlier no candidate available turns in relation to other communities, in which Ezhava candidates were advised. Therefore, we find nothing wrong with the judgment under appeal and accordingly the Writ Appeal is dismissed.