Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh on Monday ruled that the select/waiting list remains operative for one year to fill up vacancies which remain unfilled due to non-joining of the selected candidates and not on account of their resignation.
“Sub-rule 7 of Rule 14 (of J&K Civil Service Decentralization and Recruitment Rules) in its last part clearly states in a mandatory form that the selection committee shall not maintain or recommend any select or waiting list candidate for any future vacancy or any vacancy caused on account of resignation by any selected candidate who gets appointed,” a division bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi said while allowing an appeal filed against its single bench’s judgment passed in 2018.
“The language of the provision is clear enough to establish that no candidate from the select list or waiting list shall be appointed on any vacancy which is caused due to resignation of a selected candidate joining the post,” the bench said.
The appeal was filed together by then State of Jammu and Kashmir and J&KSSB against order dated 3rd May 2018, passed by the Single Judge who had allowed a plea by some aggrieved candidates with the direction to the authorities to operate the wait list of the Junior Engineers (Civil) for the period of one year so as to accord appointment to the candidates from the wait list against the vacancies falling vacant due to “resignation” of the selected candidates.
“It may be important to mention here that the select/waiting list prepared may remain operative and valid for a period of one year but that would only be for a limited purpose of appointing the selected/wait list candidates on the vacancies which remains unfilled due to non-joining of the selected candidate for one reason or the other,” the bench said. The selections/waiting list was issued by the JKSSB in pursuance of the advertisement notification No. 02/2014 dated 30.12.2014.