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1985 (5) TMI 243

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..... ana Public Service Commission invited applications for recruitment to 61 posts in Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied Services. The procedure for recruitment was governed by the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 1930 as applicable in the State of Haryana. Rule 9 clause (1) of these Rules provided that a competitive examination shall be held at any place in Haryana in each year in or about the month of January for the purpose of selection by competition of as many candidates for the Haryana Civil Service (Executive), and others allied services as the Governor of Haryana may determine and such competitive examination shall be held in accordance with the Regulations contained in Appendix I to the Rules. Rule 10 laid down the conditions for eligibility to appear at the competitive examination but we are not concerned with these conditions of eligibility in the present appeals. Regulation I in Appendix I provided that the competitive examination shall include compulsory and optional subjects and every candidate shall take all the compulsory subjects and not more than three of the optional subjects, provided that ex-serviceman shall not be required to appear i .....

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..... by them in the viva voce test, they could not come within the first 119 candidates and they were consequently not selected. They were aggrieved by the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission and three out of them accordingly filed Civil writ No. 2495 of 1983 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana challenging the validity of the selections and seeking writ for quashing and setting aside the same. They also claimed that the marks given in the viva voce test should be ignored and selections should be made only on the basis of the marks obtained by the candidates at the written examination and they contended that if that was done, they would be within first 119 to be selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission. Some other candidates who did not figure in the list of 119 selected candidates also filed Civil Writ Petition Nos. 2317, 3344, 3345, 3434, 3457, 3435 and 3719 of 1983 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana challenging the validity of the selections on substantially the same grounds and claiming substantially the same reliefs as the petitioners in Civil Writ Petition 2495 of 1983. The State of Haryana was joined as 1st respondent, the Haryana Public Serv .....

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..... of the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission. There were several grounds on which the validity of the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission was assailed on behalf of the petitioners and a declaration was sought that they were entitled to be selected as falling within the first 119 candidates. The first ground was that the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were not men of high integrity, calibre and qualification and they were appointed solely as a matter of political patronage and hence the selections made by them were invalid. Secondly, it was urged on behalf of the petitioners that two of the selected candidates, namely, Mrs. Shakuntala Rani and Balbir Singh were related to one of the members of the Haryana Public Service Commission namely, Sh. R.C. Marya, while the third selected candidate namely Trilok Nath Sharma was related to another member namely, Sh. Raghubar Dayal Gaur and though these two members did not participate in the interview of their respective relatives they did participate in the interview of other candidates and the tactics adopted by the Chairman and the members of the Commission was to give .....

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..... d that not only was it not competent to the court on the existing set of pleadings to examine whether the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were men of high integrity, calibre and qualification but also there was no material at all on the basis of which the Court could possibly come to the conclusion that they were men lacking in integrity, calibre or qualification. It was also urged on behalf of the respondents that the Haryana Public Service Commission being a constitutional authority it was not necessary for Sh. R.C. Marya and Sh. Raghubar Dayal Gaur to withdraw altogether from the interviews and they acted correctly in abstaining from participation when their relatives came to be interviewed. This was according to the respondents, in conformity with the principles of fair play and did not affect the validity of the selections. The respondents also contended that under Regulation 3 in Appendix I every candidate who obtained 45 per cent and more marks in the written examination was eligible to be called for interview and the Haryana Public Service Commission was therefore justified in calling for interview all the 1300 and odd candidates, who qualified .....

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..... ent to taint the selection process with a serious infirmity. The Division Bench almost seemed to suggest, without there being the slightest warrant for it, that it was a familiar and deliberate tactic adopted by the members of the Commission to abstain from participating in the interview of their close relatives which in effect made patent to the remaining members about their deep interest in them and further that each member of the Commission adjusted the relatives of the other and awarded low marks in interview to other candidates who had secured high marks in the written examination in order to oust the latter and bolster up the former in the merit list. The Division Bench also condemned out of hand the practice adopted by the Haryana Public Service Commission of calling for interview all the candidates who obtained more than 45% marks in the written examination and who thus proved themselves eligible for the viva voce test. The view taken by the Division Bench was that the number of candidates to be called for interview should not exceed twice or at the highest, thrice the number of vacancies required to be filled up. The Division Bench also observed that the allocation of 20 .....

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..... round that the Haryana Public Service Commission consisted of 5 members including the Chairman and all of them participated in the interviews save and except Shri. R.C. Marya, who did not participate in the interview of his daughter-in-law Shakuntala Rani and the brother of his son-in-law, Balbir Singh and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur who did not participate in the interview of the son-in-law of his sister, Trilok Nath Sharma. The Division Bench of the High Court cast serious aspersions on all the members of the Haryana Public Service Commission including the Chairman and observed that in the matter of appointments to the Haryana Public Service Commission, the actualities of work-a-day politics have wholly whittled away the ideal and the purpose in which the constitutional institution of Public Service Commission was conceived. The Division Bench of the High Court went to the length of holding that the appointments of the Chairman and the member of the Haryana Public Service Commission were made wholly caste considerations and political affiliations and all of them including the Chairman did not satisfy the stringent test of men of high integrity, calibre and qualification . These .....

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..... itical party ruling the State at the date of the respective appointments and sought to draw an inference from such relationship that their appointments were on account of caste considerations and political linkages and merit, competence and integrity were sacrificed. The relationship alleged in paragraph 9 was not disputed on behalf of the respondents but the inference sought to be drawn there from was stoutly resisted and it was contended that there was no material at all on the basis of which it could be said that the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were appointed solely due to political and caste considerations without taking into account calibre, competence or integrity. In fact the State of Haryana in its counter affidavit seriously disputed that the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission had any political affiliations. Now it is difficult to see how on the basis of a mere averment in paragraph 9 of one of the writ petitions, which averment was disputed on behalf of the respondents, the Division Bench of the High Court could possibly come to the conclusion that politics had played a major role in appointment of the Chairma .....

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..... out that even if the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were appointed on account of political and caste considerations, they could still be men of character, integrity and competence and the extraneous considerations which might have weighed with the appointing authority need not necessarily reflect upon their competence, character or fitness. The condemnatory observations made against the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission thus not only went beyond the averments made in the writ petitions but were also totally unjustified and unwarranted. Thirdly, it is difficult to see how the Division Bench of the High Court could possibly undertake an inquiry into the question whether the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were men of integrity, calibre and qualification or not. It was totally irrelevant inquiry, because even if they were men lacking in integrity, calibre and qualification, it would not make their appointments invalid, so long as the constitutional and legal requirements in regard to appointment were fulfilled. Article 316 of the Constitution makes provision for appointment and term of office o .....

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..... it is wrong but not because it is given by a Judge who is lacking in integrity, calibre or qualification. Similarly, selections made by the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission may be quashed if they are found to be vitiated by the influence of extraneous considerations or are made in breach of the rules, but they cannot be invalidated merely by showing in a general sort of way that they were not men possessed of high integrity, calibre or qualification. Lastly, we do not think that the Division Bench of the High Court was justified in going into the question whether the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were appointed an account of caste considerations and political patronage or were lacking in integrity, calibre or qualification, when the validity of their appointments was not challenged in the writ petitions nor was any relief claimed for setting aside their appointments. The validity of their appointments could not be questioned collaterally while considering the challenge to the selections made by them. This view receives support from the observations of Chinnappa Reddy, J. speaking on behalf of the Court in C. Ranga Raju .....

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..... and favouritism to the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission by observing that each member of the Haryana Public Service Commissions adjusted the relatives of the others and awarded low marks in the interview to the other candidates with a view to ousting the latter and bolstering up the former in the merit list. We are pained to observe that such a serious aspersion should have been cast on the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission without any basis or justification. Merely because Trilok Nath Sharma obtained 160 marks, Shakuntala Rani obtained 131 marks and Balbir Singh obtained 130 marks, no inference can necessarily be drawn that these high marks were given to them in viva voce examination undeservedly with a view to favouring them at the cost of more meritorious candidates. There is nothing to show that these three candidates who happened to be related to Shri Raghubar Dayal Guar and Shri R.C. Marya were not possessed of any requisite calibre or competence or their performance at the viva voce examination did not justify the marks awarded to them. The only circumstance on which the Division Bench relied for raising the inference .....

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..... are of no relevance. What is important is a person's dependability. Narrow caste, communal and regional issues dominate Indian Politics today and these considerations override questions of talent in the matter of recruitment. In the process a member with little intellectual calibre and less integrity begin to serve his own interests a those of his political benefactor, No vender there is a widespread feeling in the States (mercifully, with the U.P.S.C. as a possible exception) that every post carries a price tag. We have reached a state when the composition and functioning of our P.S. Cs should be critically evaluated. This is necessary if the institution has to survive as a meaningful body. Its functioning should be brought under public gaze. At present there is a halo of secrecy surrounding the P.S.C. and secrecy always breeds corruption. It would be suicidal to treat the P.S.C. as a sacred cow. There is nothing more sacred than the public interest and the public interest demands that the functioning of the P.S. Cs should be widely debated through the press and other forums. I invite my, colleagues of the P.S. Cs and public spirited individuals to join the debate. .....

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..... continued writing on other matters. Then speaking specifically about the viva voce examination held by the Haryana Public Service Commission in the present case, Shri D.R. Chaudhari stated: The interviews for the recruitment of H.C.S. and Allied Services, which is the subject of writ petitions in the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, were conducted about two years after the publication of the article. No pressure, political or otherwise, was exercised on me, nor to the best of my knowledge, on any other colleague of mine in the commission during the course of this recruitment. There is no reason why this statement made by Shri D.R. Chaudhari should not be believed. It is indeed surprising that the Division Bench accepted readily what was said by Shri D.R. Chaudhari in the article written by him on 13th March, 1981 but for some inexplicable reason, refused to believe the same Shri D.R. Chaudhari when he stated that this article had the desired effect and on account of the exposure made in this article, pressures, political or otherwise, ceased so far as the functioning of the Haryana Public Service Commission was concerned and in awarding of marks at the viv .....

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..... r participated in the interviews of the other candidates and that gave rise to a reasonable apprehension in the mind of the candidates that Shri R.C. Marya and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur might tend to depress the marks of the other candidates with a view to ensuring the selection of the candidates related to them and secondly, because there could be reasonable apprehension in the mind of the candidates that the other members of the Haryana Public Service Commission interviewing the candidates might, out of regard for their colleagues, tend to give higher marks to the candidates related to them, The argument of the petitioners was that the presence of Shri R.C. Marya and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur on the interviewing committee gave rise to an impression that there was reasonable likelihood of bias in favour of the three candidates related to Shri R.C. Marya and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur and this had the effect of vitiating the entire selection process. This argument was sought to be supported by the petitioners by relying on the decisions reported in D.K. Khanna v. Union of India Ors. Surinder Nath Goel v. State of Punjab and M. Ariffudin v. D.D. Chitaley Ors. We do not think this ar .....

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..... r selection to the Indian Forest Service. He did not sit on the Selection Board at the time when his name was considered for selection but he did sit on the Selection Board and participated in the deliberations when the names of his rival officers were considered for selection and took part in the deliberations of the Selection Board while preparing the list of the selected candidates in order of preference. This Court held that the presence of Naquishbund vitiated the selection on the ground that there was reasonable likelihood of bias affecting the process of selection. Hegde, J. speaking on behalf of the Court countered the argument that Naquisbund did not take part in the deliberations of the Selection Board when his name was considered, by saying: But then the very fact that he was a member of the Selection Board must have its own impact on the decision of the Selection Board. Further, admittedly, he participated in the deliberations of the Selection Board when the claims of his rivals ... were considered. He was also party to the preparation of the list of selected candidates in order of preference. At every stage of his participation in the deliberation of the selection .....

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..... pra) where one of the members of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission who sat on the Commission and participated in the selection for the posts of Professor and Lecturer in the Andhra Pradesh Technical Education Service, was a partner with some of the candidates appearing for the selection and it was held that the entire selection process was vitiated, because there was clearly reasonable likelihood of bias in favour of those candidates on the part of such member of the Commission. We may point out that so far as this last decision is concerned, it does not appear that the member of the Commission who was a partner with some of the candidates, withdrew when those candidates came to be interviewed and did not participate in the consideration of their candidature. We must straightaway point out that A.K. Kraipak's case is a landmark in the development of administrative law and it has contributed in a large measure to the strengthening of the rule of law in this country. We would not like to whittle down in the slightest measure the vital principle laid down in this decision which has nourished the roots of the rule of law and injected justice and fair play into legalit .....

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..... even the marks or credits given to that candidate should not be disclosed to him. Chinnappa Reddy, J observed to the same effect in Javid Rasool Bhat v. State of J and K while dealing with a similar question which arose before him for consideration: The procedure adopted by the Selection Committee and the member concerned was in accord with the quite well-known and generally accepted procedure adopted by the Public Service Commission everywhere. It is not unusual for candidates related to members of the Service Commission or Other Selection Committee to seek employment. Whenever such a situation arises, the practice generally is for the member concerned to excuse himself when the particular candidate is interviewed. We notice that such a situation had also been noticed by this Court in the case of Nagarajan v. State of Mysore where it was pointed out that in the absence of mala fides, it would not be right to set aside the selection merely because one of the candidates happened to be related to a member of the Selection Committee who had abstained from participating in the interview of that candidate. Nothing unusual was one by the present Selection Committee. The girl's fa .....

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..... ersonality by a viva voce test, the candidates to be called for interview at the viva voce test should not exceed twice or at the highest, thrice the number of available vacancies. This practice of confining the number of candidates to be called for interview to twice or at the highest, thrice the number of vacancies to be filled up, was being followed consistently by the Union Public Service Commission in case of Civil Services Examination, but in the present case, observed the Division Bench, a departure was made by the Haryana Public Service Commission and candidates numbering more than 20 times the available vacancies were called for interview. The result, according to the Division Bench, was that the area of arbitrariness in the viva voce test was considerably enlarged and even a student who had got poor marks in the written examination and who having regard to dismal performance at the written examination did not deserve to be called for interview, could get a chance of being called and he could then be pulled up within the range of selection by awarding unduly high marks at the viva voce examination. This conclusion was sought to be buttressed by the Division Bench by relyin .....

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..... g the entire selection process. We do not think we can agree with this conclusion reached by the Division Bench. But whilst disagreeing with the conclusion, we must admit that the Haryana Public Service Commission was not right in calling for interview all the 1300 and odd candidates who secure 45 per cent or more marks in the written examination. The respondents sought to justify the action of the Haryana Public Service Commission by relying on Regulation 3 of the Regulations contained in Appendix 1 of the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules 1930 which were applicable in the State of Haryana and contended that on a true interpretation of that Regulation, the Haryana Public Service Commission was bound to call for interview all the candidates who secured a minimum of 45 per cent marks in the aggregate at the written examination. We do not think this contention is well founded. A plain reading of Regulation 3 will show that it is wholly unjustified. We have already referred to Regulation 3 in an earlier part of the judgment and we need not reproduce it again. It is clear on a plain natural construction of Regulation 3 that what it prescribes is merely a minimum qualific .....

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..... gh marks at the viva voce examination. It has therefore always been the practice of the Union Public Service Commission to call for interview, candidates representing not more than twice or thrice the number of available vacancies. Kothari Committee's Report on the 'Recruitment Policy and Selection Methods for the Civil Services Examination' also points out, after an indepth examination of the question as to what should be the number of candidates to be called for interview : The number of candidates to be called for interview, in order of the total marks in written papers, should not exceed, we think, twice the number of vacancies to be filled.. . Otherwise the written examination which is definitely more objective in its assessment than the viva voce test will lose all meaning and credibility and the viva voce test which is to some extent subjective and discretionary in its evaluation will become the decisive factor in the process of selection. We are therefore of the view that where there is a composite test consisting of a written examination followed by a viva voce test, the number of candidates to be called for interview in order of the marks obtained in t .....

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..... ce test and where knocked out of the reckoning while 2 also got low marks in the viva voce test but just managed to scrape through to come within the range of selection. It is also true that out of the first 16 candidates who topped the list on the basis of the combined marks obtained in the written examination and the viva voce test, 12 could come in the list only on account of the high marks obtained by them at the viva voce test, though the marks obtained by them in the written examination were not of sufficiently high order. These figures relied upon by the Division Bench may create a suspicion in one's mind that some element of arbitrariness might have entered the assessment in the viva voce examination. But suspicion cannot take the place of proof and we cannot strike down the selections made on the ground that the evaluation of the merits of the candidates in the viva voce examination might be arbitrary. It is necessary to point out that the Court cannot sit in judgment over the marks awarded by interviewing bodies unless it is proved or obvious that the marking is plainly and indubitably arbitrary or affected by oblique motives. It is only if the assessment is patently .....

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..... on and viva voce test. We have already referred to the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules 1930 as applicable in the State of Haryana. Rule 9 of these rules prescribes that a competitive examination shall be held in accordance with the Regulations set out in Appendix 1 for the purpose of selection by competition of candidates to the Haryana Civil Service (Executive Branch) and other allied services and under Regulations 1 and 5 every ex-service officer has to appear in a written examination in 5 compulsory subjects carrying in the aggregate 400 marks and a viva voce test carrying 200 marks and likewise, every candidate belonging to the general category has to appear in a written examination in 8 subjects carrying in the aggregate 700 marks and for him also there is a viva voce test carrying 200 marks. The argument of the petitioners was that in case of ex-service officers the marks allocated for the viva voce test were 200 as against 400 allocated for the written examination so that the marks allocated for the viva voce test came to 33.3% of the total number of taken into account for the purpose of making selection. So also in the case of candidates belonging to the gener .....

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..... y appropriately decide to have a written examination followed by a viva voce test. It is now admitted on all hands that while a written examination assesses the candidate's knowledge and intellectual ability, a viva voce test seeks to assess a candidate's overall intellectual and personal qualities. While a written examination has certain distinct advantages over the viva voce test, there are yet no written tests which can evaluate a candidate's initiative, alertness, resourcefulness, dependableness, cooperativeness, capacity for clear and logical presentation, effectiveness in discussion, effectiveness in meeting and dealing with others, adaptability, judgment, ability to make decision, ability to lead, intellectual and moral integrity. Some of these qualities can be evaluated, perhaps with some degree of error, by a viva voce test, much depending on the constitution of the interview Board. Glenn Stahl has pointed out in his book on Public Personnel Administration that the viva voce test does suffer from certain disadvantages such as the difficulty of developing a valid and reliable oral test, the difficulty of securing a reviewable record of an oral test and pub .....

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..... who show sings of great promise and in case of such services where sound selection must combine academic ability with personality promise, some weight has to be given to the viva voce test. There cannot be any hard and fast rule regarding the precise weight to be given to the viva voce test as against the written examination. It must vary from service to service according to the requirement of the service, the minimum qualification prescribed, the age group from which the selection is to be made, the body to which the task of holding the viva voce test is proposed to be entrusted and a host of other factors. It is essentially a matter for determination by experts. The Court does not possess the necessary equipment and it would not be right for the Court to pronounce upon it, unless to use the words of Chinnappa Reddy, J. in Liladhar's case exaggerated weight has been given with proven or obvious oblique motives. We may now, in the background of this discussion, proceed to consider whether the allocation of as high a percentage of marks as 33.3 per cent in case of ex-service officers and 22.2 per cent in case of other candidates, for the viva voce test renders the selecti .....

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..... mination involving 8 subjects and hence it would not be unfair to require them to go through a shorter written examination in only 5 subjects and submit to a viva voce test carrying a higher percentage of marks than that might be prescribed in case of younger candidates. The personalties of these ex-service officers being fully mature and developed, it would not be difficult to arrive at a fair assessment of their merits on the basis of searching and incisive viva voce test and therefore in their case, the viva voce test may be accorded relatively greater weight. But in any event the marks allocate for the viva voce test cannot be as high as 33.3 per cent. The position is no different when we examine the question in regard to the percentage of marks allocated for the viva voce test in case of persons belonging to the general category. The percentage in the case of these candidates is less than that in the case of ex-service officers, but even so it is quite high at the figure of 22.2. Here also it has been pointed out by the Division Bench by giving facts and figures as to how in the case of present selections from the general category the spread of marks in the viva voce test w .....

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..... viva voce test was on the higher side and it was responsible for nearly 1/4th of the selected candidates securing a place in the select list owing to the marks obtained by them at the viva voce test, the allocation of 22.2 per cent marks for the viva voce test would certainly be likely to create a wider scope for arbitrariness. When the Kothari Committee admittedly an Expert Committee, constituted for the purpose of examining recruitment policy and selection methods for the Indian Administrative Service and other allied services took the view that the allocation of 17.1 per cent marks for the viva voce test was on the higher side and required to be reduced, it would be legitimate to hold that in case of selections to the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) and other allied services, which are services of similar nature in the State, the allocation of 22.2 per cent marks for the viva voce test was unreasonable. We must therefore regard the allocation of 22.2 per cent of the total marks for the viva voce test as infecting the selection process with the vice of arbitrariness. But the question which then arises for consideration is as to what is the effect of allocation of su .....

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..... hat hereafter in case of selections to be made to the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) and other allied services, where the competitive examination consists of a written examination followed by a viva voce test, the marks allocated for the viva voce test shall not exceed 12.2 per cent of the total marks taken into account for the purpose of selection. We would suggest that this percentage should also be adopted by the Public Service Commissions is other States, because it is desirable that there should be uniformity in the selection process throughout the country and the practice followed by the Union Public Service Commission should be taken as a guide for the State Public Service Commissions to adopt and follow. The percentage of marks allocated for the viva voce test case of ex-service officers may, for reasons we have already discussed, be somewhat higher than the percentage for the candidates belonging to the general category. We would therefore direct that in case of ex- service officers, having regard to the fact that they would ordinarily be middle aged persons with personalities fully developed the percentage of marks allocated for the viva voce test may be 25. Wh .....

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..... s sometimes ignored by the Chairman and members of the Public Service Commission. This practice is in our opinion undesirable and does not commend itself to us. When selections for the Judicial Service of the State are being made, it is necessary to exercise the utmost care to see that competent and able persons possessing a high degree of rectitude and integrity are selected, because if we do not have good, competent and honest judges, the democratic polity of the State itself will be in serious peril. It is therefore essential that when selections to the Judicial Service are being made, a sitting Judge of the High Court to be nominated by the Chief Justice of the State should be invited to participate in the interview as an expert and since such sitting Judge comes as an expert who, by reason of the fact that he is a sitting High Court Judge, knows the quality and character of the candidates appearing for the interview, the advice given by him should ordinarily be accepted, unless there are strong and cogent reasons for not accepting such advice and such strong and cogent reasons must be recorded in writing by the Chairman and members of the Public Service Commission. We are givi .....

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