GUWAHATI, Dec 11 ��In a key judgment, the Gauhati High Court has cleared the deck for appointment of 111 Grade-IV selected candidates, who were barred from joining the office even after their names figured in the merit list published by the Directorate and Employment & Craftsmen Training, Assam on February 29, 2009.
The Bench, headed by Justice Ujjal Bhutan, by a recent judgment (December 9) and an order, directed the Chief Secretary that the matter regarding appointment of the remaining 111 Grade-IV candidates be placed before the State Cabinet which would consider the matter and take an appropriate decision within a period of four months.
The Court observed that the �principles of equity would require that the treatment meted out to the Grade-III selected candidates should also be extended to the Grade-IV selected candidates as the State is unable to show any distinguishing feature between the two groups�.
In an identical case, 158 out of 272 selected Grade-III candidates were appointed after the State Cabinet approved the decision of the Government to appoint all the selected candidates.
The advertisement was issued on May 18, 2007 for filling up vacancies of Grade-IV under the heads of different government departments of the State.
The viva/interview in respect of the Grade-IV vacancies were centrally conducted by the Directorate and Employment & Craftsmen Training, Assam. The select list of Grade-IV candidates, published on February 25, consisted of 144 candidates.
Of the 144 candidates, 33 were allowed to join by various State departments, while the remaining 111 were not allowed to do so. In the process, the merit position in the select list was broken and consequently, many candidates who were below in merit in the select list were allowed to join and continue in service.
This led to filing of a number of writ petitions before the Court seeking directions to the State authorities to appoint the remaining 111 selected Grade-IV candidates, in view of their selection and also in view of appointment of persons below them in the select list.
