Supreme Court Grants Relief to Bihar City Manager Candidate Denied Merit List Placement

Last Updated on July 18, 2024 by News Desk

The Supreme Court has granted relief to a candidate who was denied a place in the merit list by the Bihar Staff Selection Commission due to holding zero work experience. The candidate applied for the position of City Manager under the Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Bihar, and the recruitment exercise was conducted by the Bihar Staff Selection Commission.

The minimum qualifying mark prescribed for the written exam was 32%. Despite scoring 22.575 marks out of 70 in the written examination, 32.14% was not placed in the merit list prepared by the Appellant-BSSC to qualify for counseling.

The Writ Petition was preferred by the Respondent-candidate against the BSSC, which was allowed by the Single and Division Bench of the High Court. Aggrieved, the Appellant-BSSC approached the Supreme Court. The bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale, confirmed the findings of the High Court, stating that the Appellant/Bihar Staff Selection Commission had acted in contravention of the statutory Rules of 2014 by not considering the candidate’s candidature.

The court rejected this approach, stating that the candidate with just qualifying 32% marks in the written (22.5 out of 70) with no experience will stand almost at the bottom of the merit list. However, the court clarified that the final merit list would be prepared after taking into consideration the marks obtained on account of experience.