JUSTICE v. NARASINGH DATE OF HEARING AND JUDGMENT
Case Details
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 …. Opposite Parties -versus- 1. State of Odisha 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. W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 1 of 9 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 W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 2 of 9 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
Decision
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. No. Name of the forest guard Category Date of joining to the rank of FG Height in C.M Chest in C.M Remarks 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 2 Sri Dambru Nag 3 General 26.09.1981 4 164 Sri Dutta Chandan General 13.05.1982 168 Sri Abhiram Sahu General 16.09.1983 169 Sri Naku Pr Sethi SC 01.07.1985 169 Sri Keshaba Ch. Pattnayak General 11.10.1985 158 Sri Mohan Patel General 04.09.1987 172 Sri Achyutananda Pattnaik Sri Laba Panda General 07.09.1987 166 General 07.09.1987 165 ST Sri Bhagirathi Majhi Sri Rudra Prasad Gahir Sri Managobinda Gahir Sri Anirudha Majhi ST General General 31.12.1987 165 15.01.1987 165 17.06.1988 02.08.1988 165 Sri Ramananda Bihari SC 03.08.1988 AN 174 7 84 Suitable 99 Suitable 91 Suitable 90 Suitable 5 6 7 9 9 4 8 5 8 5 8 1 86 Unsuitable (Less Height) 92 Suitable 8 7 8 8 8 9 8 2 8 9 9 4 9 2 96 Suitable 96 Suitable 87 Suitable 97 Suitable Absent 99 Suitable 99 Suitable W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 3 of 9 Sri Aswini Kumar Sabar Sri Gaya Majhi ST ST 22.08.2000 23.08.2000 Ku. Parijat Bag(W) SC 21.08.2000 156 Sri Santosh Kumar Dalapati 18 Ku. Meena Naik(W) Sri Abhilash Bhoi 19 20 Sri Punya Jani Sri Radha Mohan Sethi Smt. Nalini Prava Nail(W) Smt. Satyabhama ST SC ST ST SC SC SC 23.08.2000 167 21.08.2000 153 20.08.2000 166 21.08.2000 164 19.08.2000 169 21.08.2000 153 21.08.2000 152 14 15 16 17 21 22 23 24 Sri Rama Chandra Khamari SC 06.03.2001 176 Absent Absent Suitable 93 Suitable Suitable 92 Suitable 98 Suitable 87 Suitable Suitable Unsuitable (Less Height) 91 Suitable 8 7 8 6 9 3 8 2 8 5 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. W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 4 of 9 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 Height (in cm) 168 158 Women UR/SEBC/SC/ST 153 UR/SEBC/SC ST Men Minimum Chest(in cm) Un-expanded Expanded 81 81 - Up to 5cm Up to 5 cm - 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 W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 5 of 9 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. W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 6 of 9 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 W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 7 of 9 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 W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 8 of 9 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 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: AYESHA ROUT Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack Date: 20-Feb-2025 19:57:24 W.P.(C) No.21393 of 2023 Page 9 of 9