BUDDHI NATH CHAUDHARY AND ORS. versus ABAHI KUMAR AND ORS.

Citation: [2001] 2 S.C.R. 18 · Decided: 21-02-2001 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S. RAJENDRA BABU · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 2 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

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BUDDHI NATH CHAUDHARY AND ORS. 
v. 
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ABAHI KUMAR AND ORS. 
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FEBRUARY21, 2001 
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[S. RAJENDRA BABU AND S.N. PHUKAN, JJ.] 
Service Law : 
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Motor Vehicle Inspectors-Appointment of-Recruitment Rules provided 
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for ce11ain length of experience-However, some candidates without requisite 
experience appointed-Validity of-Held: l11e Motor Vehicle Inspectors have 
been in employment for a long time-Lack of experience at the time of recruit-
ment has been made good-Hence, the appointments need not be disturbed. 
Motor Vehicle Inspectors-Appointment of-Pursuant to selection by 
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State Public Service Commission-Challenge of-High Court directed Trans-
port Commissioner to examine the correctness of selection-Validity of-
Held, matter of selection of appointment cannot be entrusted to Transport 
Commissioner when the Commission, as an autonomous authority, has Se-
leered the candidates-If the selection was improper it could have been set 
aside or at best Government could have been directed to take appropriate 
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steps-Hence, direction of Iligh Court set aside. 
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The appellants were selected by the State Public Service Commission 
as Motor Vehicle Inspectors. The respondents filed a writ petition before 
the High Court challenging the appointments of the appellants ~n the 
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ground that they did not possess the requisite experience. Single Judge of 
the High Court directed the Transport Commissioner to examine the con· 
tentions raised by the respondentq, However, the Division Bench set aside 
the report sent by the Transport Commissioner and directed fresh consid-
eration of the matter by the Transport Commissioner. Hence this appeal. 
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Allowing the appeal, the Court 
HELD : 1. The matter of selection and appointment to a post could 
not have been entrusted to the Transport Commissioner when the State 
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Public Service Commission had been specifically entrusted with such a job 
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and such Commission, which is an autonomous authority having a consti-
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tutional status, has selected the candidates whose appointments were in 
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B.N. CHAUDHARY v. ABA!Il KUMAR [ R. BABU, J.] · 
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challenge. If the selection of these candidates was improper the same 
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should have been set aside with appropriate directions to redo the 
process of selection or at best, the High Court contd have directed the 
..., 
Government, which is the appointing authority, to take appropriate steps 
· in the matter. [21-B-C] 
2. The selected candidates, who have been appointed, are now in 
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employment as Motor Vehicle Inspectors for over a decade. Now that they 
...... 
have worked in such posts for a long time, necessarily they would have 
acquired the requisite experience. Lack of experience, if any, at the time of 
recruitment is made good now. Therefore, the new exercise ordered by the 
High Court will only lead to.anomalous results. The appointmenl• made c 
long back pursuant to a selection need not be disturbed. [21-E; HJ 
Ram Sarup v. State of Haryana, [1979) 1 SCC 168; District Collector & 
Chairman, Vizianagaram Social Welfarn School Society v. M. Tripura Sundari 
Devi, [1990) 3 SCC 655 and H.C. Puttaswamy v. The Hon'ble Chief Justice of 
Kamataka High Court, [1991) Supp. 2 SCC 421, relied on. 
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CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1397 of 2001. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 6.1.2000 of the Patna High Court 
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in L.P.A. No. 776 of 1999. 
_.... 
WITH 
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Civil Appeal No. 1398/2001 and 1399 of 2001. 
P.S. Mishra, R.K. Jain, P.P. Rao, K.K. Mishra, Upendra Mishra, Vishnu 
Sharma, Anil K. Jha, Arvind Kumar, Ms. Niranjana Singh, V.B. Joshi, Ms. 
Shweta Sharma, Saket Singh, Navin Prakash, Akhilesh Kumar Pandey and 
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B.B. Singh for appearing parties . 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
RAJENDRA BABU, J. Leave granted. 
In these cases the appellants were selected by the Bihar Public Service 
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Commission [hereinafter referred to as 'Commission'] for appointment as 
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Mot~r Vehicle Inspectors pursuant to an advertisement issued by the Com-
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mission on 12.5.1989. The advertisement indicated that candidates possessing 
the following qualification and experience are eligible for appointment to the 
said post: 
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2001] 2 S.C.R. 
"Qualification:- (Required minimum technical qualification-educa-
tional qualification). 
(Ka) Matriculation 
(Kha) Diploma in Automobile Engineering or Mechanical Eugineer-
,ing after completing three years c

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