HC sets aside KAT order to extend rank list validity

Govt. told to report vacancies to PSC without delay

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday set aside the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) order directing the PSC to extend the validity of the rank list of last grade servants (LGS) to September 29.

The Bench comprising Justice Alexander Thomas and A. Badharudeen while allowing a petition filed by the PSC against the order observed that the tribunal should not have passed the interim order and instead, should have decided the case on merits. Therefore, the interim order of the tribunal needs to be interdicted.

‘Expedite steps’

The court also directed the government to take expeditious steps to ensure that all vacancies of LGSs were reported to the PSC without further delay.

The Bench made it clear that the pendency of the rank holders’ petition before the KAT should not be cited as a reason to delay reporting of the vacancies.

The court said that nobody had the case that the government or tribunal or any other court had restrained the government from reporting the vacancies by the appointing authorities to the PSC. In fact, the State government had issued strict instruction to all the appointing authorities to immediately report all the vacancies to the PSC.

The court made it clear that the High Court order would not preclude the PSC from deciding the issues raised by the petitioners.

The court directed the State government to give instructions to the District Collectors and other head of departments to comply with its directives to report all the vacancies to the PSC.

Final verdict

The court also ordered the tribunal to pass the final verdict on the petition filed by the rank holders by the second or third week of September.

The tribunal’s order came on a petition filed by the LGS rank holders. The validity of the LSG rank list, along with 492 other rank lists, was extended on February 5 for six months which would expire on August 4.

In its petition, the PSC contended that it could not be compelled to extend the validity of the rank list. In fact, there was no material before the tribunal to make an order directing the PSC to extend the validity of the rank list. There were no circumstances that required the extension of the validity of the rank list.