Srinagar, Oct 31: High Court has set aside the Single Bench order wherein the selection of Veterinary Assistant Surgeons was quashed on the grounds that Public Service Commission had clubbed two notifications in violation of the law.
 “The order of learned single judge is set aside. The selection made by the Commission being in accordance with rules, we do not find any vitiating circumstances to interfere with the same,” reads the Division Bench order.
 The Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice F M Ibrahim Kalifulla and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar after hearing the arguments in Letter Patent Appeals filed by the PSC and the aggrieved candidates had reserved the judgment which was pronounced on Saturday.
 “As a matter of fact all the contesting candidates were allowed to participate in the selection and they expressed their option by setting out their preferences for the post of Animal Husbandry or Sheep Husbandry by specifying their first or second choice,” the DB said.
 The sole contention of the writ petitioners was that under the rules of the commission formulated pursuant to section 133 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, clubbing of two different services was not permissible.
 “The manner in which selection was made by the commission by clubbing 28 posts in Animal Husbandry and 27 posts in Sheep Husbandry departments was not in accordance with Law,” the counsel for the petitioners had pleaded before the Single Bench.
 Standing Counsel for the Public Service Commission, Azar-ul-Amin contended before the Division Bench that Animal and Sheep Husbandry are controlled by a single department called Animal and Sheep Husbandry Department of the state and the post to be filled up was the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon.
 “For the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon the requisite qualification was the same,” he pleaded before the court. 
 Senior Counsel, Z A Shah argued before the court that all the candidates had equal opportunity to compete for the posts available in Animal and Sheep Husbandry.
 “PSC had provided option to the candidates to prefer any of the services. The PSC had not clubbed the vacancies but had simultaneously initiated the selection process for the notified posts,” he argued.
 Senior counsel, G A lone, who represented the selected candidates argued before the bench that the writ petitions were not maintainable because the aggrieved candidates had not made all the selected candidates as parties to the case and no notice was issued to the selected candidates.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 Nov 2011 00:00:00 IST