Jharkhand High Court
Manisha Rani Toppo & Another vs The State Of Jharkhand & Others on 30 June, 2025
Author: Rajesh Shankar
Bench: Rajesh Shankar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
L.P.A. No. 40 of 2025
Manisha Rani Toppo & Another
... ... ... ... Appellants
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Others ... ... ... Respondents
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CORAM
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR
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For the Appellants: Mr. Ajit Kumar, Sr. Advocate
For the State: Mr. Yogesh Modi, A.C. to A.A.G.-IA
For the J.P.S.C.: Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, Advocate
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05/30.06.2025
1. Heard both sides.
2. Advertisement no. 5/2017 was published by the Jharkhand Public
Service Commission for filling up the posts of Assistant Professors
(backlog) in B.I.T. Sindri.
3. The eligible criteria prescribed for appointment to the said posts of
Assistant Professors in the Engineering colleges was mentioned in
Clause 6 of the said advertisement.
4. The said clause stated that for appointment of the Assistant
Professors, the criteria is to be decided on the basis of the
academic record & research performance, evaluation of domain
knowledge as well as interview and the total marks were to be
given out of 100.
5. The said clause further stated that in case the Commission does
not receive sufficient numbers (3 times the vacancies) of
application forms from applicants who have valid
GATE/NET/SLET/SET as applicable scores, then the Commission
will conduct a written examination for the candidates, who have
applied for the posts. This condition is imposed as per Jharkhand
Technical Education Services Rules, 2013 as amended in 2015.
6. In the instant case, for appointment on the posts of Assistant
Professors in the engineering colleges in the Telecommunication
Branch, 3 posts were advertised.
7. So if the Commission did not receive application from 9 persons,
who had a valid GATE/NET/SLET/SET scores, then the Commission
had to conduct a written examination for the candidates, who had
applied for the said posts, as per the said rules and also
Advertisement.
8. According to learned counsel for the J.P.S.C., the number of
applicants for 3 posts of Assistant Professors in the
Telecommunication Engineering branch was less than 9. Therefore,
it was incumbent upon the Commission to conduct the written
examination as per the rule and the advertisement referred to
supra.
9. However, the Commission did not conduct such examination in
spite of the mandate of the said rule and the Advertisement.
10. The counsel contends that a meeting with certain Government
officials was held by members of the Commission on 22.06.2022
and in that meeting it was left to Government to fill up the posts
by granting relaxation of the rule referred to above; and that on
the basis of that recommendation, the State Government
appointed 1 person without the J.P.S.C. having conducted the
written examination.
11. Learned counsel for the appellants contends that it was the duty of
the J.P.S.C. to conduct the examination as per rule and the
Advertisement; that the J.P.S.C. has no business to make
recommendation of any name for purpose of making appointment
to the Government without conducting the written examination as
aforesaid; and the State Government has no business to make any
appointment de-hors the rules.
12. He also contends that the respondent-State as well as respondent-
J.P.S.C. cannot change the rules of the game after the game has
started. He placed reliance on a judgment rendered by the
Supreme Court in the case of "Tej Prakash Pathak and Others
vs. Rajasthan High Court and Others" reported in (2025) 2
SCC 1.
13. This legal position is not disputed by learned counsel for the
respondents.
14. In this view of the matter, learned counsel for the J.P.S.C. as well
as the State Government shall furnish learned counsel for the
appellants the details of Sri Praveen Kumar Sahu, who has been
appointed on the post of Assistant Professor in Telecommunication
Engineering branch by the respondents because the appointment
of the said person appears to be contrary to law.
15. List this case on 13.08.2025.
(M. S. Ramachandra Rao, C.J)
Satish/Vikas/- (RAJESH SHANKAR, J)
