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1997 (7) TMI 674

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..... ribed for a candidate for appointment will be the 1st day of January following the date of application. The affected candidates who are before us contend that such a cut off date which is uniformly fixed under all the Service Rules of the State of Rajasthan, is arbitrary or unreasonable and must be struck down. For the sake of convenience we are citing Rule 11(1) of the Rajasthan Medical Services (Collegiate Branch) Rules, 1962 which came up for consideration in a writ petition filed by Dr. Rajeev Mathur before the Rajasthan High Court. The Rajasthan High Court held that the portion of Rule 11 which prescribes determination of the maximum age with reference to 1st of January following the last date fixed for receipt of applications, was arbitrary and unreasonable and struck it down. The appeal before us from this judgment and order is Civil appeal No. 2691/91 which is filed by the candidate who was 2nd in the order of merit for that particular selection. Rule 11(1) provides as follows:- 11(1):- A candidate for direct recruitment to a junior post enumerated in Part C of the Schedule must not have attained the age of 35 years on the first day of January following the last dat .....

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..... candidate for appointment cannot be allowed to depend upon any fluctuating or uncertain date. If the final stage of selection is delayed and more often it happens for various reasons, the candidates who are eligible on the date of application may find themselves eliminated at the final stage for no fault of theirs. The date to attain the minimum or maximum age must, therefore, be specific and determinate as on a particular date for candidates to appl and for the recruiting agency to scrutinise the applications . This Court, therefore, held that in order to avoid uncertainly in respect of minimum or maximum age of a candidate. Which may arise if such an age is linked to the process of selection which may taken an uncertain time, it is desirable that such a cut off date should be with reference to a fixed date. Therefore, fixing in independent cut off date, far from being arbitrary, makes for certainty in determining the maximum age. In the case of Union of India and Anr. v. Sudhir Kumar Jaiswal (1994 4 SCC 212) the date for determining the age of eligibility was fixed at 1st of August of the year in which the examination was to be held. At the time when this cut off date was fix .....

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..... ubject to vagaries of the department concerned, making it dependant on the date when each department issues an advertisement, and the date which each department concerned fixes as the last date for receiving applications. A person who may fail on the wrong side of such a cut off date may well contend that the cut off date is unfair, since the advertisement could have been issued earlier: Or in the alternative that the cut off date could have been fixed later at the point of selection or appointment. Such an argument is always open, irrespective of the cut off date fixed and the manner in which it is fixed. That is by this court has said in the case of Parameshwaran Match Works(supra) and later cases that the cut off date is valid unless it is so capricious or whimsical as to be wholly unreasonable. To say that the only cut off date can be the last date for receiving applications, appears to be without any basis. In our view the cut off date which is fixed in the present case with reference to the beginning of the Calendar year following the date of application, cannot be considered as capricious or unreasonable. On the contrary, it is less prone to vagaries and is less uncertain. .....

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..... with the commission. There is also Rule 35 in the said Rules which gaves a general power to relax rules in exceptional cases where the Government is satisfied that it is necessary, inter alia, to relax any provision of these Rules with respect to age or experience of any person and this can be done with the concurrence of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms and in consultation with the Rajasthan Public Service Commission. It is urged that in the case of all those persons who are adversely affected because the advertisement for recruitment is issued later than the occurrence of the vacancy. Corresponding age relaxation should be given to all candidates. In other words, what is contended is that if on the date when the vacancy occurred, the candidates were within the maximum age prescribed by reference to the cut off date, the if the advertisement is delayed, their age should be considered with reference to the cut off date of 1st January following the date of occurrence of vacancy. For example, if the vacancy has occurred on 1st of April of a given year, and the applicant would be within the maximum age on the 1st of January of the following year, then such a can .....

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..... ecision of the Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court in his own case (Dr. Rajeev Mathur v. The State of Rajasthan) the Rajasthan Public Service Commission filed a Special leave petition before this Court being Special Leave Petition No. 6931 of 1991. In the Special Leave Petition, on 30th of April, 1991 this Court passed the following order :- We express on view on the question of law raised but on facts found we decline to interfere. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed. It is contended by Dr. Mathur that in view of the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition filed by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, the decision of the Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court in the case of Dr. Rajeev Mathur v. The State of Rajasthan has become final and cannot be set aside. Hence the appointment of Dr. Rajeev Mathur cannot now be challenged. Dr. Rajeev Mathur was over age on the 1st of January of the year following the dated of application. And his application was rejected by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission on the ground that he was over age. Immediately he preferred a writ petition before the Rajasthan High Court. In the writ petition he averred that his case .....

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