In a contempt case filed before the Kerala High Court alleging wilful disobedience of a judgment dated 03-07-2024 of a Division Bench of this Court, whereby the original petition was dismissed by confirming an order dated 16-10-2019 of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram (KAT), and the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) was directed to comply with the directions of KAT, a Division Bench of Justice Anil K. Narendran and Justice Muralee Krisha S. found that a case could not be made for contempt by KPSC and closed the case.
The petitioner submitted that two vacancies for the post of Junior Inspector in the Industrial Training Department existed at the time of the impugned judgment, as evidenced by the appointment chart dated 06-01-2025 issued by KPSC. It was asserted that she was eligible to be appointed in the first vacancy, and by failing to do the same, KPSC had committed wilful disobedience of the judgment.
It was contended that the addendum notification was issued improperly and that, even if the rank list had expired, the vacancies reported prior to its expiry must be filled from the list.
KPSC argued that KAT had ordered the petitioner’s candidature to be accepted by placing her at the appropriate place in the ranked list based on her performance in the selection process. Thereafter, KPSC issued an addendum notification wherein the petitioner was placed at rank no. 3A, but was not appointed since the vacancy for her turn did not arise.
The Court perused the order of KAT and noted that KPSC had only been directed to accept the petitioner’s candidature, to publish her result, and to include her in the rank list published on 30-10-2017 based on her performance in the selection process. It was noted that KPSC had done this. The Court stated that the petitioner’s contention regarding the availability of a vacancy due to her turn on the currency of the ranked list was a disputed question, which could not be decided in a contempt case.
Thus, the Court found that the petitioner had failed to make out a case of contempt by KPSC and closed the contempt case.
Appearances:
For Petitioner – Mr. P. Satheesh Kumar, Mr. Adarsh Sivadasan, Ms. Karthika S.A.
For Respondent – Mr. P.C. Sasidharan (SC, KPSC)
