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Synopsis

The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to conduct a fresh medical test of a candidate who was declared "temporarily unfit" due to a slight increase in Body Mass Index in the Civil Services Examination 2014 and "unfortunately" preferred to miss out on the re-medical test in July 2015 after losing hope since the UPSC published the final result before it.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal granted limited relief to petitioner Rakshit Shivam Prakash by directing the respondents to reschedule the re-medical test that was to be conducted on July 14, 2015, but he did not appear for it.

"This is an exceptional case in which we have exercised our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to do complete justice and as such the present decision shall not be treated as a precedent in any case," the bench said.

Acting on the writ petition filed by the petitioner, the bench said considering the fact that the original re-medical examination was to happen in 2015 and almost a decade has passed by, "we direct that in the event the petitioner qualifies in the medical re-examination, he shall neither claim appointment in the 2014 Batch, nor will he be entitled to seniority in the Batch in which he could be appointed."

The court also clarified that, upon clearing the re-medical, if he is to be given an appointment, his services would commence from the date of the appointment.

In his plea, the petitioner, who qualified prelims, mains, and also the interview, said he was declared "temporarily unfit" due to his BMI recorded as 31.75, higher than the prescribed 30 BMI.

His re-medical test was scheduled on his request on July 14, 2015, but the UPSC published the final list on July 4, 2015. He concluded that the selection process is complete upon publication of this final result and having lost hope, he did not appear for the re-medical test.

"The most amazing things in life happen right at the moment you are about to give up hope. On 19.01.2016, a consolidated reserve list of 126 candidates was published for filling up the remaining posts," the bench noted as the petitioner was shown to have secured rank 93rd in this list. At the same time, candidates ranked below the petitioner on that list, up to the 97th rank, were allocated service.

"With this publication, his hope became a claim of right," the court said.

He approached the Central Administrative Tribunal which dismissed his plea, relying upon the case of K. Rajashekhara Reddy, who was similarly placed as even he could not qualify the medical. Questioning the decision of the Tribunal, the petitioner filed a writ petition before the High Court of Patna.

During the pendency of the petitioner's plea, Reddy's plea was allowed by the Telangana HC. The Centre approached this court which directed a re-medical test for Reddy, who was found fit and was directed to be appointed with all consequential benefits, except salary.

On the strength of this decision, the petitioner withdrew his plea from the HC to make a representation before the authorities to give him similar treatment.

The Department of Personnel and Training, however, replied to him that the Supreme Court's order in Reddy's case upheld the stand of the government regarding the prescription of a time limit for medical reexamination of ‘temporarily unfit’ candidates. As per the Civil Services Examination Rules, 2014, the status of the petitioner is confirmed as ‘Unfit for all Services’.

In the situation, the petitioner approached this court which rejected his prayer for the allocation of service and consequential benefits against Civil Services Examination, 2014.

"Though the petitioner was declared to be ‘temporarily unfit’ after the medical examination dated 29.04.2015, he was entitled to a re-examination which was slated to take place on 14.07.2015. It is an unfortunate situation that the petitioner assumed that he had lost out and overlooked the chance that was provided to him on 14.07.2015 when he was called for re-examination," the bench said.

The court also said the case of Reddy may not be identical but life being what it is, one commonality is in the fact that he also missed the medical re-examination and his prayer, similar to that of the writ petitioner, was accepted by the High Court; and this Court did not interfere with the order while exercising jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, the bench noted.

It also found that Reddy was granted relief by this court, he was 38 years old and had exhausted all his attempts for Civil Services Exams. The petitioner is 35 years old, and he too has exhausted all his attempts.

The court therefore partly allowed the writ petition and directed the respondents to call the petitioner for a re-medical test within a period of four weeks.

Case Title: Rakshit Shivam Prakash Vs Union of India And Anr