Dismissed¶38

Pallavi Laxman Barate v. the State of Maharashtra Throu. Principal Sec. Revenue and Forest Dept and Ors.

Bombay HC28 Jun 2024WP/6194/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Horizontal reservation; Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC); Assistant Conservator of Forest Group-A; Advertisement No.4/2019; recommendation list dated 20/06/2022; OBC female category; open sports category vacancy; next meritorious candidate; Circular dated 16/03/1999; corrigendum dated 19/12/2018; Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal; Original Application No.852 of 2022; recruitment marks comparison (263/262/236); writ jurisdiction; writ petition dismissed; no order as to costs.

What did the court decide?

The Tribunal committed no error in dismissing the Original Application; the Division Bench found no basis to interfere with the Tribunal's decision. ¶33

Pallavi Laxman Barate vs the State of Maharashtra… — Education and Admissions | Bombay HC (2024)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Dismissed

¶38

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, who applied from the OBC (female) category, was entitled to a direction for revising the recommendation list dated 20/06/2022 and to appointment on the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests by operating horizontal reservation. +1 more

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Court's answer

The Tribunal committed no error in dismissing the Original Application; the Division Bench found no basis to interfere with the Tribunal's decision.

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Ratio / Principle

All candidates at Serial Nos. 10 to 13 in the recommendation list were more meritorious than the petitioner, and the last candidate appointed against the post reserved for the OBC Female Category had more marks than the petitioner; no less-meritorious OBC Female candidate was preferred over her.

¶33

Key takeaways

Since no candidate from the Open Sports Category was available, the next meritorious candidate after the candidate at Serial No.10 was rightly appointed against that post, in accordance with the manner of working out horizontal reservation indicated by the Circular dated 16/03/1999 and corrigendum dated 19/12/2018.ratio¶33
The petitioner, having secured 236 marks as against 263 marks of the candidate at Serial No.10 and 262 marks of the candidate at Serial No.11, could not have staked a claim to the post reserved for the OBC Female Category; the MPSC therefore did not incorrectly prepare the recommendation list.ratio¶33

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Writ Petition (Bombay High Court, Civil Appellate Jurisdiction) challenging the order dated 05/03/2024 of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal dismissing Original Application No.852 of 2022 filed by Pallavi Laxman Barate, an Other Backward Class (female) candidate recruited under Advertisement No.4/2019 issued on 08/03/2019 by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission for 29 posts of Assistant Conservator of Forest, Group-A. The petitioner sought revision of the revised recommendation list dated 20/06/2022 so as to accommodate the Serial No.10 candidate (Open Female) against the unfilled Open Sports Category post and thereby cascade vacancies down to the OBC Female-1 post for herself, on the principle of horizontal reservation as per the Circular dated 16/03/1999 and corrigendum dated 19/12/2018. The Division Bench (A.S. Chandurkar and Rajesh S. Patil, JJ.) held that candidates at Serial Nos. 10 to 13 were all more meritorious than the petitioner; that the last appointee to the OBC Female post had more marks than the petitioner; that no less-meritorious OBC Female candidate was preferred over her; and that, the Open Sports Category candidate being unavailable, the next meritorious candidate after Serial No.10 was rightly appointed. The petitioner, with 236 marks against 263 (Serial No.10) and 262 (Serial No.11), could not stake a claim to the reserved post. Holding no jurisdictional infirmity in the Tribunal's order, the writ petition was dismissed with no order as to costs.

¶1

Rameshwar Dilwale

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903-WP-6194-24.doc

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RAMESHWAR LAXMAN DILWALE

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Digitally signed by RAMESHWAR LAXMAN DILWALE Date: 2024.08.12 18:04:18 +0530

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

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WRIT PETITION NO.6194 OF 2024 Pallavi Laxman Barate .. Petitioner Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr. .. Respondents

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Mr. Shrikant Patil, Advocate for petitioner.

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Mr. N. C. Walimbe, Addl.e GP with Mr. S. P. Kamble, AGP for the respondent no.1-State.

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Mrs. Pranali P. Kakade, Advocate for respondent no.2.

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CORAM : A.S. CHANDURKAR & RAJESH S. PATIL, JJ DATE : 09^th AUGUST, 2024.

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P.C. :

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The challenge raised in this writ petition is to the order dated 05/03/2024 passed by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal in Original Application No.852 of 2022. By that order, the Original Application preferred by the petitioner seeking a direction for revising the recommendation list dated 20/06/2022 and appointing the candidate at serial no.10 as a General Category Candidate and thereafter filling in the further vacancy by appointing the petitioner on the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests by operating horizontal reservation came to be dismissed.

¶13

On 08/03/2019, Advertisement No.4/2019 was issued by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission for recruitment on 29 posts of Assistant Conservator of Forest, Group-A. Out of the

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nine posts reserved for women, four posts were for the open category and one post was for women from the Other Backward Class category. The petitioner applied from the Other Backward Class (female) category. The petitioner who was appointed on the post of Range Forest Officer had applied pursuant to the aforesaid advertisement. The revised list of recommended candidates was published on 20/06/2022. However, the petitioner’s name did not figure in the said list. It was the case of the petitioner that one post was earmarked for Open Sports Category. On such candidate not being available, it was required to be filled in on the basis of the next meritorious candidate of the same category. The candidate at Serial No.10 was selected as Open Female ought to have been accommodated on the post earmarked for Open Sports Category and against the post of the candidate at Serial No.10, the candidate at Serial No.13 ought to be recommended. By operating the recommendation list in this manner, the candidate at Serial No.21 would be recommended as Open Female-4 instead of OBC Female-1. Thereafter, the petitioner could have been accommodated on the vacant post as OBC Female-1. The respondents did not operate the recommendation list in the aforesaid manner and thus the petitioner was deprived of appointment in the OBC Female Category. On this basis, the

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petitioner approached the Tribunal.

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The Tribunal held that horizontal reservation was required to be implemented in the manner indicated in the Circular dated 16/03/1999 and corrigendum dated 19/12/2018. Since the candidate at Serial No.12 was a female candidate, she was rightly considered on the post reserved for females. As no candidate was available from the sports category, the next candidate on the basis of merit was selected against this post. It was held that the MPSC rightly implemented the policy of horizontal reservation and that the petitioner was not entitled for any such declaration. On that basis, the Original Application came to be dismissed.

¶23

Mr. Shrikant Patil, the learned counsel for the petitioner reiterated the contentions that were raised before the Tribunal. According to him, one of the candidates from the OBC Female Category namely Ms. Ghotkar Shweta Ashok was found to be not qualified and her name came to be deleted from the recommendation list. The petitioner thereafter on 12/04/2022 had addressed an e-mail to the respondents indicating the manner in which the recommendation list ought to have been operated. Instead of doing so, the respondents failed to revise the recommendation list ignoring the norms of horizontal reservation that were required to be applied. The petitioner having applied

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from the OBC Female Category, she was entitled to be appointed after revising the recommendation list on the principle of horizontal reservation. There was no other candidate who had secured more marks than the last selected candidate and the petitioner. If the recommendation list was properly revised, the petitioner would have been appointed in the OBC Female Category for which one post was reserved. It was thus submitted that the prayers made in the Original Application ought to have been granted and the petitioner ought to have been issued an order of appointment.

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Mr. N. C. Walimbe, the learned Additional Government Pleader supported the order passed by the Tribunal. He relied upon the affidavit in reply has filed and submitted that the recommendation list had been prepared on the basis of the Circular dated 16/03/1999 and the corrigendum dated 19/12/2018. The recommendations had been made by implementing horizontal reservation in the manner provided in the Circular. The candidate appointed on the post reserved for OBC Females had secured more marks than the petitioner. Hence there was no reason to interfere with the order passed by the Tribunal.

¶29

Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having

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perused the documents on record, we do not find that the Tribunal committed any error in dismissing the Original Application. Undisputedly, the petitioner sought appointment in the OBC Female Category for which one post was reserved. The other four posts were reserved for candidates from the Open Female Category. A perusal of the marks of the candidates at Serial Nos.10 to 13 indicates that all these candidates were more meritorious than the petitioner. The last candidate appointed on the post reserved for OBC Female Category had more marks than the petitioner. It has not been demonstrated that any other candidate from the OBC Female Category having lessor marks has been given appointment in preference to the claim of the petitioner. The Circular dated 16/03/1999 as well as the corrigendum dated 19/12/2018 indicate the manner in which the process of horizontal reservation has to be worked out. Since the candidate from the Open Sports Category was not available, the next meritorious candidate after the candidate at Serial No.10 came to be appointed. While the candidate at Serial No.10 had secured 263 marks, the candidate at Serial No.11 had secured 262 marks. The petitioner having secured 236 marks, she could not have staked a claim for the post reserved for the OBC Female category. We therefore do not find that the MPSC has incorrectly

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prepared the recommendation list.

¶38

Hence for aforesaid reasons, we do not find any case made out to interfere in exercise of writ jurisdiction. In absence of there being any jurisdictional infirmity in the order passed by the Tribunal, the Writ Petition is liable to be dismissed. It is accordingly dismissed with no order as to costs.

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[ RAJESH S. PATIL, J. ]

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[ A.S. CHANDURKAR, J. ]

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Pallavi Laxman Barate v. the State of Maharashtra Throu. Principal Sec. Revenue and Forest Dept and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Pallavi Laxman Barate v. the State of Maharashtra Throu. Principal Sec. Revenue and Forest Dept and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

Issues for consideration

Procedural history

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

All orders in this case

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