Jharkhand High Court Fines State Commission Rs.1 Lakh Over Assistant Professor Appointment Case, Rejects Appeal
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The Jharkhand High Court dismissed an appeal filed by the state’s public service commission against Manoj Kumar Kachhap, a candidate for the post of assistant professor.
Ranchi, June 13 — The Jharkhand High Court has strongly criticised the state’s public service commission for unfairly rejecting a candidate’s application for the post of assistant professor and has imposed a penalty of Rs.1 lakh on the commission.
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The division bench also dismissed the commission’s appeal against a previous court order that had favoured the candidate.
The matter relates to Manoj Kumar Kachhap, who had applied for the post of assistant professor in 2018. He stated in his petition that he had submitted his application properly and appeared for the written examination after all his documents were verified by the commission.
However, when he appeared for the interview, he was suddenly told that his candidature would not be considered. According to the petition, the commission informed him during the interview that the fee he had paid while applying had not been credited to its account.
“The money deposited by him as fees to the commission was never reverted back to his account,” the petition added.
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Kachhap also mentioned that the commission had not given him any prior information about the issue with his fee payment before the interview.
“The commission did not inform him before the interview that the money deposited by him had not been credited in its account,” the petition stated.
Earlier, a single-judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court had ruled in favour of Kachhap and directed the commission to reconsider his application. The commission, however, was not satisfied with this decision and filed an appeal before a division bench.
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On Friday, a division bench headed by Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao upheld the single bench’s order. It not only confirmed that Kachhap had been treated unfairly, but also imposed a fine on the commission.
The court directed that “a cost of Rs 1 lakh” be paid to Manoj Kumar Kachhap by the commission within eight weeks.
In a separate case, the Jharkhand High Court also imposed a cost on former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda. The court was hearing a case in which Koda had repeatedly asked for adjournments. This was the fourth time such a request was made. Showing its disapproval, the court imposed a cost of Rs. 8,000 on him.
