National Union of Bsnl Workers Vs. Bharath Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Sea Branch, Corporate Office, New Delhi and Others - Court Judgment

SooperKanoon Citationsooperkanoon.com/939244
CourtCentral Administrative Tribunal CAT Ernakulam
Decided OnAug-04-2009
Case NumberT.A. No. 127 of 2008
JudgeHONOURABLE MR. GEORGE PARACKEN, JUDICIAL MEMBER & HONOURABLE MS. K. NOORJEHAN, ADMINISTRATIVE MEMBER
AppellantNational Union of Bsnl Workers
RespondentBharath Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Sea Branch, Corporate Office, New Delhi and Others
Advocates:For the Petitioner: Mr. K. Anand, Advocate. For the Respondents: Mr. Mathews K Philip, Advocate.
Excerpt:
hon'ble mr. george paracken, judicial member originally this case was filed as o.a.225/03 before this tribunal. for lack of jurisdiction under section 14 (1) of the administrative tribunals act, 1985, it was dismissed along with several other cases vide ext.p-9 common order dated 11.4.2005. thereafter, the petitioner filed wpc no.22209/05 before the hon'ble high court of kerala seeking issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents to fill up the 2500 vacancies of junior accounts officer (jao for short) which arose prior to 31.8.2001 by following ext.p-2 rules. when the jurisdiction of bsnl was brought under this tribunal by the central government by way of a subsequent notification, the said writ petition was transferred to this tribunal under section 29(2) of administrative tribunals act, 1985 and numbered as t.a.no.127/08. 2. the brief facts of the case are that the bsnl was formed with effect from 1.10.2000 by converting the erstwhile department of telecommunication. the jao service, postal wing (group 'c') recruitment rules, 1977 was the rule regulating the recruitment and conditions in the postal wing of the indian posts and telegraphs department where the applicants were initially appointed. rule 6 of the said rules which deals with the eligibility of certain category of persons for appointment as junior accounts officer in the post was as under : "6. certain categories of persons eligible for appointment as junior accounts officers in the postal wing : (1) persons who have passed part i and part ii of the examination and have been transferred to the posts and telegraphs department under the act before the notified date shall be eligible for appointment as junior accounts officers in the postal wing in their turn, subject to availability of posts. (2) persons who have passed part i of the examination held before the notified date shall, before appointment as junior accounts officers in the postal wing, be required to pass part ii of the departmental examination to be held for the postal wing, which shall be held only once, exclusively for such persons, and no such persons shall be eligible to appear for part ii of the departmental examination to be held for the telecommunication wing." rule 8 of the said rules which deals with departmental examination provides as under: departmental examination :-(1) the departmental examination shall consist of two parts, namely part i and part ii and shall be conducted in accordance with such syllabus, and in such manner, and at such time and place, as may be specified by the director general from time to time. (2) part i of the departmental examination shall be common to both the junior accounts officers in the postal wing telecoand the junior accounts wing. mmunication officers in the (3) (a) any person after passing part i of the departmental examination may exercise an option to appear in part ii of the departmental examination to be held for the junior accounts officers in the postal wing or part ii of the departmental examination to be held for the junior accounts officers in the telecommunication wing, and the option once exercised shall be final. (b) any person who passes part ii of the departmental examination shall be eligible for appointment as junior accounts officer in the post wing or in the telecommunication wing, in accordance with the option exercised by him under clause (a). rule 9 of the said rules which deals with the eligibility to appear in the departmental examination provides as under: 9. eligibility to appear in the departmental examination : (1) persons of the indian posts and telegraphs departmentshall be eligible to appear in part i of the departmental examination if they have rendered three years continuous service after appointment thereto on a regular basis, and are not more than 45 years of age, on the 1st day of january of the year in which the departmental examination is scheduled to be held. (2) persons transferred from the department to the posts and telegraphs department under the act shall be eligible to appear for part i of the departmental examination if they comply with the conditions referred to in sub rule (1) explanation :-in computing the period of three years continuous service in respect of persons referred to in this sub rule, the service rendered by any person in the indian audit and accounts department after appointment thereto on a regular basis shall be taken into account. (3) any person, after passing part i of the departmental examination shall be eligible to appear for part ii of the than 48 years of age on the 1st day of january of the year in which the departmental examination is scheduled to be held. (4) persons who have passed part i of the examination and have been transferred to the posts and telegraphs department under the act shall be eligible to appear only for part ii of the departmental examination to be held for the postal wing and no such person shall be eligible to appear for part ii of the departmental examination to be held for the telecommunication wing. (5) members of the staff in the office of the director general, who have been recruited to the central secretariat service, the central secretariat stenographers service and the central secretariat clerical service shall not be eligible to appear at the departmental examination. 3. after the formation of the bsnl with effect from 1.10.2000 they have promulgated the ext.p-3 junior accounts officer recruitment rules, 2001 with effect from 31.8.2001. they have also issued ext.p-4 guidelines for examination in respect of candidates having exemption in various papers of jao part i and jao part ii of old syllabus. the terms and conditions for departmental candidates who were declared partly qualified in the existing system of jao exams (dot) were as under : a.1 candidates who have not cleared the jao, part i examination, but are exempted from appearing in certain papers : candidates will have to exercise either of two options, viz. (a) to continue in the existing syllabus (dot) (b) to switch over to the new syllabus. (i) candidate who opt to continue in the existing (dot) syllabus and mode of examination : they will have to qualify both part i and part ii examination within a period of 2 years, with maximum of two attempts in each part. if the candidates are unable to qualify both the parts ie. part i and part ii within 2 years, he has to switch over to new syllabus and will have to clear the screening test to appear in the main examination. (ii) candidate who opt to switch over to the new scheme of examination: they will be treated as fresh candidates. they have to clear the screening test to appear in the main examination. a.2 candidates who have already passed jao part i and have not qualified in the part ii examination and with no exemption in any of the papers: candidates will have to exercise either of the two options, viz. (a) to continue in the existing syllabus (dot) (b) to switch over to the new syllabus. (i) candidates who opts to continue in the existing (dot) syllabus and mode of examination : they will have to qualify part ii examination, within a period of two years and within two attempts. if a candidate is unable to clear part ii within 2 years, he/she has to switch over to new syllabus and to qualify the screening test so as to appear in the main examination. (ii) candidate who opts to switch over to new scheme of examination: candidates will be given exemption from appearing in the screening test. they will also be exempted from appearing in the papers in the new system of examination, now proposed, which are equivalent to the papers he had already cleared in part i. these exemptions will be valid for 2 attempts within a period of 2 years. if the candidate is unable to qualify in the 2nd attempt also, he/she will have to clear the screening test, in the newly proposed mode of examination so as to appear in the main examination. 4. vide ext.p-5 letter dated 6.9.2002 the respondents have issued the schedule for the next jao part i examination which was to be held in accordance with the prescribed syllabus. a large number of employees who have not passed the part i examination but were exempted under the dot syllabus submitted their applications. it was stated in clause (3) of the said ext.p-5 as under : " in this examination only those candidates will be eligible to appear who have got exemption in jao part i examination in certain papers in the previous examinations conducted by the department of telecom (dot) before corporatisation and have been absorbed permanently in bsnl. the candidates who have got exemption in jao part i examination held in october 1992 were listed in ext.p-6 letter dated 30.4.1993. by ext.p-7 letter dated 13.8.2002 the respondents have circulated the scheme and syllabus of the recruitment of junior accounts officers in bsnl against 40% internal examination and 10% internal examination. the respondents have conducted the examinations in the month of march, 2003. in terms of an interim direction of this tribunal in o.a.225/03, the members of the applicants' union were also permitted to appear provisionally in the examination held on 25.3.2003 subject to outcome of the oa. however, their results have not been published so far. 5. the contentions of the applicant is that since the ext.p-3 recruitment rules came into force with effect from 31.8.2001 only, all the vacancies of jaos which occurred prior to that date shall be filled up in accordance with the ext.p-2 jao service postal wing group 'c' recruitment rules, 1977 which was prevalent till that date. in support of his aforesaid contention, he relied upon the judgment of the apex court in v.v.rangaiah and others vs. j.sreenivasa rao and others (air 1983 sc 852). the operative part of the said judgment is as under : "8. the contention on behalf of the appellants herein is that by the time the list was prepared in may, 1977 rule 5 of the andhra pradesh registration and subordinate service rules was amended and the list prepared was in accordance with the rules then prevailing at the time of preparation, and therefore there was nothing wrong with the preparation of the panel. it was further contended that the petitioners in the two representation petitions having not challenged the validity of the amendment to rule 5 of the andhra pradesh registration and subordinate service rules, it was not open to them to challenge the list prepared in may, 1977 which is in accordance with the rules prevailing at that time. 9. having heard the counsel for the parties, we find no force in either of the two contentions. under the old rules a panel had to be prepared every year in september. accordingly, a panel should have been prepared in the year 1976 and transfer or promotion to the post of sub registrar grade ii should have been made out of that panel. in that event the petitioners in the two representation petitions who ranked higher than the respondents nos.3 to 15 would not have been deprived of their right of being considered for promotion. the vacancies which occurred prior to the amended rules would be governed by the old rules and not by the amended rules. it is admitted by counsel for both the parties that henceforth promotion to the post of sub registrar grade ii will be according to the new rules on the zonal basis and not on the state wide basis and therefore, there was no question of challenging the new rules. but the question is of filling the vacancies that occurred prior to the amended rules. we have not the slightest doubt that the posts which fell vacant prior to the amended rules would be governed by the old rules and not by the new rules." 6. respondents in their reply statement submitted that the jao part i and part ii examinations were only qualifying examinations and all those who have qualified in the said examinations are kept in an approved list to be absorbed in future as jaos as and when vacancies arise in the cadre. in other words, vacancies are never assessed before the jao part i or part ii examinations are notified. all the qualified candidates are promoted to the cadre against the available vacancies depending upon their position in the approved list. after the bifurcation of the erstwhile posts and telegraphs department into two, namely, department of posts and department of telecommunications respectively in the year 1974-1975, the two departments had framed and issued separate recruitment rules. the ministry of communications, (department of telecommunications) had issued the recruitment rules pertaining to department of telecommunications on 15.4.1977 (ext.r1[b]). the said rules have been subsequently amended in 1986 vide rules at ext.r1 [c]) and they have been followed till 31.8.2001 when bsnl has issued the ext.p-3 jao recruitment rules, 2001. during the period of formation of bsnl, a large number of candidates who have got exemption in certain papers in jao part i/part ii examinations conducted earlier, were available. such candidates were exempted from appearing for certain paper/papers in an examination, if minimum 60% marks were scored by them in one of the three consecutive examinations preceding the current examination. with a view to extend some relaxations to those candidates, soon after formation of the bsnl, a committee was constituted on 21.12.2000 to evolve a detailed procedure for the recruitment of jao in bsnl. based upon the committee's recommendations, the competent authority has approved the detailed guidelines for jao examination as per old syllabus for the transition period. accordingly detailed guidelines in respect of candidates who had got exemption in certain papers in jao part i and part ii in the dot syllabus were issued by the bsnl corporate office on 17.7.2002 (ext.r1 [e]). in para 1 of the said guidelines it has been made clear that since the candidates who got exemption in certain papers of the jao examination held earlier under dot syllabus have already been absorbed in bsnl permanently, it has been decided to grant a special relaxation to those candidates during the transition period for qualifying the remaining papers (as per dot syllabus) in the jao examinations to be held within a specific time frame. thereafter, the bsnl issued the ext.r1 [f]) clarification dated 9.12.2002 wherein it has been stated that the candidates who got exemption for any of the three consecutive examinations held previously were eligible for appearing in the examination in question and those candidates who have exhausted the chances of three consecutive examinations whether appeared or not are not eligible for appearing in the examination. in kerala circle, the jao part i examinations were held in 1995, 1999 and 2001 and hence candidates who got exemption prior to 1995 were not eligible for appearing the examination and as such applications submitted by the candidates who got exemption prior to 1995 were rejected. the present examination was meant only for those candidates who got exemption in certain papers in the jao part i and part ii examination held earlier and did not exhaust the permissible three chances. candidates who did not get exemption in papers earlier were not eligible for appearing in the examination. they have also submitted that in terms of the interim directions of this tribunal in oa 225/02, 9 officials stated to be members of the applicant union were permitted to appear in the examination provisionally. when the said oa was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, the results of these candidates who were admitted provisionally in compliance of the interim directions of this tribunal was not declared because their admission to the examination itself was nullified by the dismissal of the oa. as regards the existence of 2500 vacant posts of jaos prior to 31.8.1999 is concerned, the respondents have submitted that such an issue itself is irrelevant because these examinations were not conducted on the basis of declared vacancies, as already explained. 7. we have heard the counsel for the parties. as regards the jao part i examination is concerned, the applicants were permitted to appear in it only on provisional basis by the exhibit p-8 order of this tribunal dated 21.3.2003. the jao part i examinations are held only for those who have got exemptions for any of the three consecutive examinations held previously but not for those who have exhausted the chances. the applicants having exhausted the three chances were not eligible to appear in the examination held in 2002. further, the jao part i and part ii examinations were purely qualifying examinations and they are held not on the basis of any assessed vacancies. 8. we, therefore, hold that this ta is devoid of any merit and it is dismissed accordingly. there shall be no order as to costs.
Judgment:

HON'BLE Mr. GEORGE PARACKEN, JUDICIAL MEMBER

Originally this case was filed as O.A.225/03 before this Tribunal. For lack of jurisdiction under Section 14 (1) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, it was dismissed along with several other cases vide Ext.P-9 common order dated 11.4.2005. Thereafter, the petitioner filed WPC No.22209/05 before the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala seeking issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents to fill up the 2500 vacancies of Junior Accounts Officer (JAO for short) which arose prior to 31.8.2001 by following Ext.P-2 rules. When the jurisdiction of BSNL was brought under this Tribunal by the Central Government by way of a subsequent notification, the said Writ Petition was transferred to this Tribunal under Section 29(2) of Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 and numbered as T.A.No.127/08.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the BSNL was formed with effect from 1.10.2000 by converting the erstwhile Department of Telecommunication. The JAO service, Postal Wing (Group 'C') Recruitment Rules, 1977 was the rule regulating the recruitment and conditions in the Postal Wing of the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department where the applicants were initially appointed. Rule 6 of the said Rules which deals with the eligibility of certain category of persons for appointment as Junior Accounts Officer in the post was as under :

"6. Certain categories of persons eligible for appointment as Junior Accounts Officers in the Postal Wing :

(1) Persons who have passed Part I and Part II of the examination and have been transferred to the Posts and Telegraphs Department under the Act before the notified date shall be eligible for appointment as Junior Accounts Officers in the Postal Wing in their turn, subject to availability of posts.

(2) Persons who have passed Part I of the examination held before the notified date shall, before appointment as Junior Accounts Officers in the Postal Wing, be required to pass Part II of the Departmental Examination to be held for the Postal Wing, which shall be held only once, exclusively for such persons, and no such persons shall be eligible to appear for Part II of the Departmental Examination to be held for the Telecommunication Wing."

Rule 8 of the said Rules which deals with Departmental Examination provides as under:

Departmental Examination :-(1) The Departmental Examination shall consist of two parts, namely Part I and Part II and shall be conducted in accordance with such syllabus, and in such manner, and at such time and place, as may be specified by the Director General from time to time.

(2) Part I of the Departmental Examination shall be common to both the Junior Accounts Officers in the Postal Wing Telecoand the Junior Accounts Wing. Mmunication Officers in the

(3) (a) Any person after passing Part I of the Departmental Examination may exercise an option to appear in Part II of the Departmental Examination to be held for the Junior Accounts Officers in the Postal Wing or Part II of the Departmental Examination to be held for the Junior Accounts Officers in the Telecommunication Wing, and the option once exercised shall be final.

(b) Any person who passes Part II of the Departmental Examination shall be eligible for appointment as Junior Accounts Officer in the Post Wing or in the Telecommunication Wing, in accordance with the option exercised by him under

clause (a).

Rule 9 of the said Rules which deals with the eligibility to appear in the Departmental Examination provides as under:

9. Eligibility to appear in the Departmental Examination :

(1) Persons of the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Departmentshall be eligible to appear in Part I of the Departmental Examination if they have rendered three years continuous service after appointment thereto on a regular basis, and are not more than 45 years of age, on the 1st day of January of the year in which the Departmental Examination is scheduled to be held.

(2) Persons transferred from the Department to the Posts and Telegraphs Department under the Act shall be eligible to appear for Part I of the Departmental Examination if they comply with the conditions referred to in sub rule (1) Explanation :-In computing the period of three years continuous service in respect of persons referred to in this sub rule, the service rendered by any person in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department after appointment thereto on a regular basis shall be taken into account.

(3) Any person, after passing Part I of the Departmental Examination shall be eligible to appear for Part II of the than 48 years of age on the 1st day of January of the year in which the Departmental Examination is scheduled to be held.

(4) Persons who have passed Part I of the examination and have been transferred to the Posts and Telegraphs Department under the Act shall be eligible to appear only for Part II of the Departmental Examination to be held for the Postal Wing and no such person shall be eligible to appear for Part II of the Departmental Examination to be held for the Telecommunication Wing.

(5) Members of the staff in the office of the Director General, who have been recruited to the Central Secretariat Service, the Central Secretariat Stenographers Service and the Central Secretariat Clerical Service shall not be eligible to appear at the Departmental Examination.

3. After the formation of the BSNL with effect from 1.10.2000 they have promulgated the Ext.P-3 Junior Accounts Officer Recruitment Rules, 2001 with effect from 31.8.2001. They have also issued Ext.P-4 guidelines for examination in respect of candidates having exemption in various papers of JAO Part I and JAO Part II of old syllabus. The terms and conditions for departmental candidates who were declared partly qualified in the existing system of JAO Exams (DOT) were as under :

A.1 Candidates who have not cleared the JAO, Part I examination, but are exempted from appearing in certain papers : Candidates will have to exercise either of two options, viz.

(a) To continue in the existing syllabus (DOT)

(b) To switch over to the new syllabus.

(i) Candidate who opt to continue in the existing (DOT) syllabus and mode of examination : They will have to qualify both Part I and Part II examination within a period of 2 years, with maximum of two attempts in each part. If the candidates are unable to qualify both the parts ie. Part I and Part II within 2 years, he has to switch over to new syllabus and will have to clear the screening test to appear in the main examination.

(ii) Candidate who opt to switch over to the new scheme of examination: They will be treated as fresh candidates. They have to clear the screening test to appear in the main examination. A.2 Candidates who have already passed JAO Part I and have not qualified in the Part II examination and with no exemption in any of the papers: Candidates will have to exercise either of the two options, viz.

(a) To continue in the existing syllabus (DOT)

(b) To switch over to the new syllabus.

(i) Candidates who opts to continue in the existing (DOT) syllabus and mode of examination : They will have to qualify Part II examination, within a period of two years and within two attempts. If a candidate is unable to clear Part II within 2 years, he/she has to switch over to new syllabus and to qualify the screening test so as to appear in the main examination.

(ii) Candidate who opts to switch over to new scheme of examination: Candidates will be given exemption from appearing in the screening test. They will also be exempted from appearing in the papers in the new system of examination, now proposed, which are equivalent to the papers he had already cleared in Part I. These exemptions will be valid for 2 attempts within a period of 2 years. If the candidate is unable to qualify in the 2nd attempt also, he/she will have to clear the screening test, in the newly proposed mode of examination so as to appear in the main examination.

4. Vide Ext.P-5 letter dated 6.9.2002 the respondents have issued the schedule for the next JAO Part I examination which was to be held in accordance with the prescribed syllabus. A large number of employees who have not passed the Part I examination but were exempted under the DOT syllabus submitted their applications. It was stated in Clause (3) of the said Ext.P-5 as under :

" In this examination only those candidates will be eligible to appear who have got exemption in JAO Part I Examination in certain papers in the previous examinations conducted by the Department of Telecom (DOT) before corporatisation and have been absorbed permanently in BSNL. The candidates who have got exemption in JAO Part I examination held in October 1992 were listed in Ext.P-6 letter dated 30.4.1993. By Ext.P-7 letter dated 13.8.2002 the respondents have circulated the Scheme and Syllabus of the recruitment of Junior Accounts Officers in BSNL against 40% internal examination and 10% internal examination. The respondents have conducted the examinations in the month of March, 2003. In terms of an interim direction of this Tribunal in O.A.225/03, the members of the applicants' Union were also permitted to appear provisionally in the examination held on 25.3.2003 subject to outcome of the OA. However, their results have not been published so far.

5. The contentions of the applicant is that since the Ext.P-3 Recruitment Rules came into force with effect from 31.8.2001 only, all the vacancies of JAOs which occurred prior to that date shall be filled up in accordance with the Ext.P-2 JAO Service Postal Wing Group 'C' Recruitment Rules, 1977 which was prevalent till that date. In support of his aforesaid contention, he relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court in V.V.Rangaiah and others Vs. J.Sreenivasa Rao and others (AIR 1983 SC 852). The operative part of the said judgment is as under :

"8. The contention on behalf of the appellants herein is that by the time the list was prepared in May, 1977 Rule 5 of the andhra Pradesh Registration and Subordinate Service Rules was amended and the list prepared was in accordance with the rules then prevailing at the time of preparation, and therefore there was nothing wrong with the preparation of the panel. It was further contended that the petitioners in the two representation petitions having not challenged the validity of the amendment to Rule 5 of the andhra Pradesh Registration and Subordinate Service Rules, it was not open to them to challenge the list prepared in May, 1977 which is in accordance with the rules prevailing at that time.

9. Having heard the counsel for the parties, we find no force in either of the two contentions. Under the old rules a panel had to be prepared every year in September. Accordingly, a panel should have been prepared in the year 1976 and transfer or promotion to the post of Sub Registrar Grade II should have been made out of that panel. In that event the petitioners in the two representation petitions who ranked higher than the respondents Nos.3 to 15 would not have been deprived of their right of being considered for promotion. The vacancies which occurred prior to the amended rules would be governed by the old rules and not by the amended rules. It is admitted by counsel for both the parties that henceforth promotion to the post of Sub Registrar Grade II will be according to the new rules on the zonal basis and not on the State wide basis and therefore, there was no question of challenging the new rules. But the question is of filling the vacancies that occurred prior to the amended rules. We have not the slightest doubt that the posts which fell vacant prior to the amended rules would be governed by the old rules and not by the new rules."

6. Respondents in their reply statement submitted that the JAO Part I and Part II examinations were only qualifying examinations and all those who have qualified in the said examinations are kept in an approved list to be absorbed in future as JAOs as and when vacancies arise in the cadre. In other words, vacancies are never assessed before the JAO Part I or Part II examinations are notified. All the qualified candidates are promoted to the cadre against the available vacancies depending upon their position in the approved list. After the bifurcation of the erstwhile Posts and Telegraphs Department into two, namely, Department of Posts and Department of Telecommunications respectively in the year 1974-1975, the two Departments had framed and issued separate Recruitment Rules. The Ministry of Communications, (Department of Telecommunications) had issued the Recruitment Rules pertaining to Department of Telecommunications on 15.4.1977 (Ext.R1[b]). The said rules have been subsequently amended in 1986 vide Rules at Ext.R1 [c]) and they have been followed till 31.8.2001 when BSNL has issued the Ext.P-3 JAO Recruitment Rules, 2001. During the period of formation of BSNL, a large number of candidates who have got exemption in certain papers in JAO Part I/Part II examinations conducted earlier, were available. Such candidates were exempted from appearing for certain paper/papers in an examination, if minimum 60% marks were scored by them in one of the three consecutive examinations preceding the current examination. With a view to extend some relaxations to those candidates, soon after formation of the BSNL, a committee was constituted on 21.12.2000 to evolve a detailed procedure for the recruitment of JAO in BSNL. Based upon the committee's recommendations, the competent authority has approved the detailed guidelines for JAO examination as per old syllabus for the transition period. Accordingly detailed guidelines in respect of candidates who had got exemption in certain papers in JAO Part I and Part II in the DOT syllabus were issued by the BSNL corporate office on 17.7.2002 (Ext.R1 [e]). In para 1 of the said guidelines it has been made clear that since the candidates who got exemption in certain papers of the JAO examination held earlier under DOT syllabus have already been absorbed in BSNL permanently, it has been decided to grant a special relaxation to those candidates during the transition period for qualifying the remaining papers (as per DOT syllabus) in the JAO examinations to be held within a specific time frame. Thereafter, the BSNL issued the Ext.R1 [f]) clarification dated 9.12.2002 wherein it has been stated that the candidates who got exemption for any of the three consecutive examinations held previously were eligible for appearing in the examination in question and those candidates who have exhausted the chances of three consecutive examinations whether appeared or not are not eligible for appearing in the examination. In Kerala Circle, the JAO Part I examinations were held in 1995, 1999 and 2001 and hence candidates who got exemption prior to 1995 were not eligible for appearing the examination and as such applications submitted by the candidates who got exemption prior to 1995 were rejected. The present examination was meant only for those candidates who got exemption in certain papers in the JAO Part I and Part II examination held earlier and did not exhaust the permissible three chances. Candidates who did not get exemption in papers earlier were not eligible for appearing in the examination. They have also submitted that in terms of the interim directions of this Tribunal in OA 225/02, 9 officials stated to be members of the applicant union were permitted to appear in the examination provisionally. When the said OA was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, the results of these candidates who were admitted provisionally in compliance of the interim directions of this Tribunal was not declared because their admission to the examination itself was nullified by the dismissal of the OA. As regards the existence of 2500 vacant posts of JAOs prior to 31.8.1999 is concerned, the respondents have submitted that such an issue itself is irrelevant because these examinations were not conducted on the basis of declared vacancies, as already explained.

7. We have heard the counsel for the parties. As regards the JAO Part I examination is concerned, the applicants were permitted to appear in it only on provisional basis by the Exhibit P-8 order of this Tribunal dated 21.3.2003. The JAO Part I examinations are held only for those who have got exemptions for any of the three consecutive examinations held previously but not for those who have exhausted the chances. The applicants having exhausted the three chances were not eligible to appear in the examination held in 2002. Further, the JAO Part I and Part II examinations were purely qualifying examinations and they are held not on the basis of any assessed vacancies.

8. We, therefore, hold that this TA is devoid of any merit and it is dismissed accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs.