CHENNAI: Nine years after engineers were appointed in Chennai Port Trust, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court has set aside the selection list.
“We are convinced that marks were awarded arbitrarily under the category ‘personality, smartness and performance’, with a view to favour the selected candidates. The impugned selection is therefore liable to be set aside’’ a Division Bench of Justices K K Sasidharan and P Velmurugan said and accordingly quashed the same on April 24.
The Port Trust invited applications for filling four posts of Assistant Engineers (Civil) on redeployment basis. There was no written test. All the candidates secured equal marks under the categories ‘qualification’ and ‘experience’. The selection committee without any guidelines, awarded marks under the category ‘personality, smartness and performance’ and tilted the balance in favour of a few by giving more marks and eventually selected them.
Contending that marks under the third category were given arbitrarily, one unsuccessful candidate M Velmurugan moved the HC and a Single Judge dismissed it in 2015. Hence, the present plea.The appellant said the award of marks under the same category in the selection made in June 2008 was set aside by a Division Bench of the High Court in September 2010 and the same was upheld by the Supreme Court the same year. He assailed the present selection on the same ground.
“We have perused the selection file in its entirety. We are convinced that marks were awarded arbitrarily,” the Bench said and quashed the February 2009 selection list. The Bench directed the Port Trust to conduct a fresh selection by adopting a fair and transparent process without any element of arbitrariness. The selection process should be confined to the 36 candidates who took part in the selection on February 21, 2009, and the same shall be completed within three months, the court said.
