HC sets aside 2016 Constable recruitment test : Nod given to 2013 recruitment process
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 05 2018:
Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Manipur, quashed and set aside the 2016 recruitment process of Manipur Police Constable (Male) and also ordered the announcement of recruitment results for 2000 post of Manipur Police Constable 2013 (Civil/Male) from among the 7578 successful candidates who have been stated error free by the enquiry commission.
The judgment order was announced by Acting Chief Justice N Kotiswar in an open Court after the final hearing of the case today.
A large number of 2013 DPC successful candidates were seen gathered in front of the High Court complex during the final hearing of the case.
Most of the candidates were not allowed to go inside the Court complex and a large number of police personnel, including women police, were seen deployed to prevent any untoward incident near the Court complex.
The Court order quashed and set aside the whole 2016 recruitment process and directed the announcement of the recruitment result of 2000 post of Manipur Police Constable (male) within two months, from the eligible/successful candidate of the 2013 DPC, on merit basis.
The Court order further directed the result of the recruitment to be announced within two months, after conducting the viva voice of 348 candidates who passed the written test (but were not announced) and who were not allowed to appear the viva voce.
After conducting the viva voice of the said 348 candidates, the result has to be announced along with that of the 7230 candidates who have been reported free of errors by the enquiry committee, on merit basis.
The DPC for the recruitment of 2000 Manipur Police Constables (Civil/Male) conducted in 2013, was cancelled by an order of the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) on August 20, 2016, based on the enquiry report submitted by Principal Secretary JC Ramthanga, in connection with alleged unethical practices during the said DPC, and also directed a new DPC to be conducted.
An order was issued by the DGP, Manipur, on the same day regarding the matter and the Physical Efficiency Test (PET) was conducted from August 30, 2016 .
The candidates who participated in the 2013 DPC, filed numerous writ petitions in the High Court of Manipur against the State Government's order.
Based on the writ petitions, the High Court of Manipur passed an interim order on August 24 last year, prohibiting the State Government from declaring the result of the 2016 DPC without the approval of the Court, although the order did not stop the proceedings of the DPC.
The order also directed the formation of a one man commission, constituted by retired Justice Mutum Binoykumar, to investigate the results of the PET, written test and viva-voce of the 2013 DPC.
The commission recently submitted a 890 paged, three volume report to the Manipur High Court and according to the report, around 7,230 candidates were free of errors.
During the last hearing, the Court directed the petitioners' counsels to submit necessary affidavits regarding the enquiry report and fixed April 5 for the next hearing of the case.
As per the enquiry report submitted to the Court, the commission came across 36,169 score sheets of the candidates, out of which 23,301 participated in the PET (18,415 qualified while 4,886 were disqualified).
It further mentioned that the State Home Department issued an official notification on January 10, 2013, for the recruitment of 2000 Manipur Police Constables (Civil Male).
Written tests were conducted at three different locations on June 16 the same year, and the result was announced on September 13 (2013).10,287 candidates were selected for viva-voce.
The viva voce was conducted from September 28, 2015, at 1st MR Banquet Hall and 9,613 candidates participated in it.
Comment
