Meena Naik vs State Of Odisha .... Opposite Parties
2025 Latest Caselaw 3899 Ori

Orissa High Court

Meena Naik vs State Of Odisha .... Opposite Parties on 12 February, 2025

Author: V. Narasingh

Bench: V. Narasingh

                IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK

                           W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023

      In the matter of an application under Article 226 & 227 of
      the Constitution of India.
                                 ------------------

       Meena Naik                              ....          Petitioner

                                    -versus-

      1. State of Odisha                       ....   Opposite Parties
      2. Regional Chief Conservator of
      Forest, Bhawanipatna Circle,
      Kalahandi
      3. Divisional Forest Officer,
      Kalahandi
      4. Prakash Chandra Mishra
      5. Kanhu Charan Tripathy
      6. Tapan Kumar Behera


      For Petitioner               :   Mr. S.K. Das,   Advocate



      For Opposite Parties         :   Mr. S.P. Das, ASC


                            CORAM:
                            JUSTICE V. NARASINGH

          DATE OF HEARING AND JUDGMENT : 12.02.2025


       V. Narasingh, J.

1. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner and learned counsel for the State.

2. The present writ petition has been filed assailing the impugned order at Annexure-11 by which the Petitioner who was working as a Forest Guard belonging to SC category and a woman was denied promotion to the cadre of "Forester".

The Petitioner consequentially assailed the promotion which according to the Petitioner erroneously given to Opposite parties 4 to 6 vide Annexure-6.

3. By order dated 07.11.2024, notices to the private Opposite Parties 5 to 6 have been held to be sufficient. So also the notice qua the Opposite Party No.4 as per the noting of the Registry is held to be sufficient.

None appears for the private Opposite Parties when the matter is called.

4. Brief facts germane for just adjudication which are undisputed are as under:-

The Petitioner who belongs to Scheduled Caste category joined as Forest Guard on being selected by order dated 21.08.2020.

5. Taking into account the bone of contention in the writ petition, it is apt to refer the RTI information placed on record by the Petitioner vide Annexure-12 more particularly at page-45 of the

brief which indicates that the physical standard test of the candidates selected for the feeder cadre post of Forest Guards in Kalahandi North Forest Division under Bhawanipatna Circle was conducted on 04.09.2015. In the result of such test, the name of the Petitioner appears at Serial No.18 under the category "SC" and her height in cm i.e. stated as "153". For convenience of reference the said table is extracted hereunder:-

Sr. Name of the forest Category Date of Height Chest Remarks No. guard joining to the in C.M in C.M rank of FG

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 Sri Dambru Nag General 26.09.1981 164 7 84 Suitable

2 Sri Dutta Chandan General 13.05.1982 168 9 99 Suitable

3 Sri Abhiram Sahu General 16.09.1983 169 8 91 Suitable

4 Sri Naku Pr Sethi SC 01.07.1985 169 8 90 Suitable

5 Sri Keshaba Ch. General 11.10.1985 158 8 86 Unsuitable Pattnayak 1 (Less Height) 6 Sri Mohan Patel General 04.09.1987 172 8 92 Suitable

7 Sri Achyutananda General 07.09.1987 166 8 96 Suitable

8 Sri Laba Panda General 07.09.1987 165 8 96 Suitable

9 Sri Bhagirathi ST 31.12.1987 165 8 87 Suitable

10 Sri Rudra Prasad General 15.01.1987 165 8 97 Suitable

11 Sri Managobinda General 17.06.1988 Absent Gahir 12 Sri Anirudha Majhi ST 02.08.1988 165 9 99 Suitable

13 Sri Ramananda SC 03.08.1988 174 9 99 Suitable

14 Sri Aswini Kumar ST 22.08.2000 Absent Sabar 15 Sri Gaya Majhi ST 23.08.2000 Absent 16 Ku. Parijat Bag(W) SC 21.08.2000 156 Suitable 17 Sri Santosh Kumar ST 23.08.2000 167 8 93 Suitable

18 Ku. Meena SC 21.08.2000 153 Suitable Naik(W) 19 Sri Abhilash Bhoi ST 20.08.2000 166 8 92 Suitable

20 Sri Punya Jani ST 21.08.2000 164 9 98 Suitable

21 Sri Radha Mohan SC 19.08.2000 169 8 87 Suitable

22 Smt. Nalini Prava SC 21.08.2000 153 Suitable Nail(W) 23 Smt. Satyabhama SC 21.08.2000 152 Unsuitable (Less Height) 24 Sri Rama Chandra SC 06.03.2001 176 8 91 Suitable

6. Since the Petitioner was eligible for promotion to the post of Forester, she participated in the selection and since her height was found to be less than the minimum standard of 153 cm as per the requirement, her case was not considered and assailing the same, the Petitioner approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No.26142 of 2022, which was disposed of by order dated 13.10.2022, wherein this Court directed the authorities to take a fresh decision regarding the claim of the Petitioner for her promotion as against Unreserved vacancies as well.

7. On fresh consideration by the impugned order at Annexure-11, the claim of the Petitioner was rejected, assailing which the present writ petition has been filed.

8. On perusal of Annexure-11, it is seen that the authorities have referred to the criteria for promotion as per Rule 14 of Odisha Subordinate Forest Service (Method of Recruitment and Conditions of Service of Foresters) Amendment Rules, 2020 and hereinafter referred to as "Rules, 2020". In the said Rules, in a tabular form, the minimum physical standard of the candidates of different categories has been detailed and the same is extracted hereunder:-

Category of Candidate Minimum Minimum Chest(in cm) Height Un-expanded Expanded (in cm) Men UR/SEBC/SC 168 81 Up to 5cm ST 158 81 Up to 5 cm Women UR/SEBC/SC/ST 153 - -

And for the lis in question, since the Petitioner is a woman and belongs to SC category the minimum required height is 153 cm.

8-A. Referring to the said Rules, it is stated that the Petitioner height was found to be 151.6 C.M. and therefore she was not promoted to the higher

rank. Such finding in the impugned order at Anneuxre-11 runs thus:-

"And whereas the height of Meena Naik, Forest Guard (Petitioner) is found 151.6 cm and she did not achieve minimum height as required for the promotion to the rank of forester".

9. Learned counsel for the Petitioner draws the attention of this Court to Annexure-12, information received on the basis of RTI application which has already been adverted to hereinabove.

In the said RTI information, the physical standard test of Forest Guard promotion to the rank of Forester in respect of Divisional Forest Officer, Kalahandi North Division has been stated and the name of the Petitioner in the said list appears at Serial No.4 and her height has been mentioned as 154.1 cm.

The said list reflects the name of the Petitioner and also the names of members of the Board which examined prospective candidates for promotion.

It is apt to note here that such information given under the RTI is not controverted in the counter affidavit filed by the learned counsel for the State.

10. Reiterating the stand taken in the impugned order of rejection, learned counsel for the State, Mr. S.P. Das stuck to the stand that the height of the Petitioner is less than the expected physical standard of Rule 6 of the Odisha Subordinate Forest Service (Method of Recruitment and Conditions of Service of Foresters) Amendment Rules, 2020. Hence, she was rightly not considered.

11. At the cost of repetition, it is worth noting that the RTI information in Annexure-12 which finds reference in paragraph-13 of the writ petition and on close scrutiny of the counter affidavit, it is seen that the assertions in the said paragraph have not been responded to.

12. The Petitioner in response to the counter affidavit submitted the rejoinder affidavit reiterating her claim that her height was wrongly reflected and in fact it is 154.1 cm which is more than the minimum eligible height of 153 cm for the promotion to the post of Forester referring to the documents placed on record in terms of the information under the RTI.

13. Admittedly the Petitioner was eligible for consideration and for promotion to the rank of Forester in terms of the Rule 6 of the Odisha Subordinate Forest Service (Method of Recruitment

and Conditions of Service of Foresters) Amendment Rules, 2020. The only ground for which her case was not considered for promotion was that her height was found to be less than the prescribed standard. Since it has been demonstratively established which has not been rebutted by the State authorities that the height of the present Petitioner is 154.1 cm as per Annexure-12 (page-44 of the brief) and even otherwise at the time of her initial recruitment her height was 153 cm as already noted, the ground on which she was not considered for promotion is untenable. Since as already noted the Petitioner who is a woman and belongs to SC category has more than the prescribed height and as such in the face of it, the impugned order at Annexure-11 being arbitrary, is liable to be quashed.

14. Accordingly, the impugned order at Annexure-11 is hereby quashed.

15. Since there is no dispute regarding the placement of the Petitioner in the list of the feeder cadre which is at Annexure-5 where the Petitioner has been placed above Opposite Party No.6 at Serial No.24 of final common gradation list of Forest Guards in respect of Bhawanipatna (T) Circle, as on 01.06.2022 which was the basis for consideration

for promotion of eligible candidates to the rank of "Forester", it is directed that the Petitioner shall be placed above Opposite Party No.6 in the cadre of "Forester" with all consequential service benefits. The necessary follow up action in this regard shall be taken within a period of six months from the date of receipt/production of copy of this judgment.

16. The writ petition thus stands disposed of. No costs.

(V. Narasingh) Judge

Orissa High Court, Cuttack, Dated the 12th February, 2025/Ayesha

Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack