# ASHOK KUMAR Y ADAV AND ORS. ETC. ETC v. STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS. ETC. ETC - **Citation:** [1985] Supp. 1 S.C.R. 657 - **Court:** Supreme Court of India - **Decided:** 1985-05-10 - **Case number:** Civil Appeal Nos. 1016010162 of 1983 - **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/ashok-kumar-y-adav-and-ors-etc-etc-v-state-of-haryana-and-ors-etc-etc-9082 - **Pages:** 47 ## Headnote ASHOK KUMAR Y ADAV AND ORS. ETC. ETC. v. STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS. ETC. ETC. May 10, 1985 [Y.V. CHANDRACHUD, C.J., P.N. BHAGWATI, AMARENDRA NATH SEN AND V. BALAKRISHNA faADJ, Jl.] 657 Constitution of India, 1950, Article 316 and 226-Public Service Commission -Chairman and Members-Whether possess qualification and men of integrity and t!Dlibre-Whether High Court has power to inquire in such questionCondemnatory observations by High Court-No factual basis on pleadings or evidence-Propriety and validity of. Administrative LawNatural Justice-Condemnatory observations made by High Court against Chairman and Members of Public Service Commission without their being party A B c respondents-Whether justified. D Recruitment to posts in Haryara Civil Service (Executive) & Allied Services -Selection by Public Service Cornmission-Some interviewed candidates closely related to Members-Selections-Whether vitiated. Viva vace examination-20 candidates called for each post-Whether justified-Allocation of 33.3% marks in case of ex-service officers and 22.2~~ in case of other candidates-Whether the viva voce exaniination suffers from the vice of arbitrariness-Guidelines for fixing marks for viva voce examinationJndicated. Rule 9 clause (1) of the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch), Rules 1930 prescribes a competitive examination for recruitment to posts in Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied services. Regulation (I) in Appendix (l) lays down that the competitive examination shall include compulsorily and optional subjects and that every candidate shall take the compulsory subjects and not more than three of the optional subjects, and that ex-servicemen shall not be required to appear in the optional subjects. As per Regulation 5, the compulsory subjects carry in the aggregate 400 marks and there is also viva-voce examination which is compulsory and which carries 200 marks and each optional subject carries 100 lnarks. Thus, the written examination carries an aggregate of 700 marks for candidates in general and for ex-servicemen it carries an aggregate of 400 marks while in case of both, the viva voce examination carries 200 marks. Regulation 3 provides that no candidate shall be eligible to appear in the \iva voce test unless he obtains 45 per cent marks in the aggregate of all subjects. In a written examination held by the Haryana Public Service Commission for recruitment to 61 posts in Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied Services, over 1300 candidates obtained more than 45% marks and thus qualified B F G B A B c D E F G H 658 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985] SUPPL. s.c.lt. for being caUcd for interview for the viva voce examination. The Haryana Public Service Comn1ission invited all the candidates for the viva voce examination and the interviews lasted for almost half a year. The number of vacancies also rose during the time taken up in the v.ritten examination and the viva voce test and ultimately J 19 posts became available for being filled and on the basis of total marks obtained in the written examination as well as viva-voce test, 119 candidates were selected and recommended by the Haryana Public Service Commission to the State Government. The respondents-petitioners had obtained very high marks at the writtta examination but owing to rather poor n1arks obtained in the viva voce test, they could not come within the first l 19 candidates and were consequently not selected. They filed several writ petitions in the High Court of Punj~b and Haryana cha1Jengiag the validity of the selection of the appellants and seeking a writ for quashing and setting asicfe the same. The State of Haryana, Haryana Public Service Commission, three members of the Haryana Public Service Commission and five selected candidates were respondents to the Writ Petitions. The respondents-petitioners contended berore the High Court : (1) that the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were not men of high integrity, cal ## Text _Characters 0–39,962 of 127,923. This is a partial read: ask again with offset=39962 for what follows._ ASHOK KUMAR Y ADAV AND ORS. ETC. ETC. v. STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS. ETC. ETC. May 10, 1985 [Y.V. CHANDRACHUD, C.J., P.N. BHAGWATI, AMARENDRA NATH SEN AND V. BALAKRISHNA faADJ, Jl.] 657 Constitution of India, 1950, Article 316 and 226-Public Service Commission -Chairman and Members-Whether possess qualification and men of integrity and t!Dlibre-Whether High Court has power to inquire in such questionCondemnatory observations by High Court-No factual basis on pleadings or evidence-Propriety and validity of. Administrative LawNatural Justice-Condemnatory observations made by High Court against Chairman and Members of Public Service Commission without their being party A B c respondents-Whether justified. D Recruitment to posts in Haryara Civil Service (Executive) & Allied Services -Selection by Public Service Cornmission-Some interviewed candidates closely related to Members-Selections-Whether vitiated. Viva vace examination-20 candidates called for each post-Whether justified-Allocation of 33.3% marks in case of ex-service officers and 22.2~~ in case of other candidates-Whether the viva voce exaniination suffers from the vice of arbitrariness-Guidelines for fixing marks for viva voce examinationJndicated. Rule 9 clause (1) of the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch), Rules 1930 prescribes a competitive examination for recruitment to posts in Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied services. Regulation (I) in Appendix (l) lays down that the competitive examination shall include compulsorily and optional subjects and that every candidate shall take the compulsory subjects and not more than three of the optional subjects, and that ex-servicemen shall not be required to appear in the optional subjects. As per Regulation 5, the compulsory subjects carry in the aggregate 400 marks and there is also viva-voce examination which is compulsory and which carries 200 marks and each optional subject carries 100 lnarks. Thus, the written examination carries an aggregate of 700 marks for candidates in general and for ex-servicemen it carries an aggregate of 400 marks while in case of both, the viva voce examination carries 200 marks. Regulation 3 provides that no candidate shall be eligible to appear in the \iva voce test unless he obtains 45 per cent marks in the aggregate of all subjects. In a written examination held by the Haryana Public Service Commission for recruitment to 61 posts in Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied Services, over 1300 candidates obtained more than 45% marks and thus qualified B F G B A B c D E F G H 658 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985] SUPPL. s.c.lt. for being caUcd for interview for the viva voce examination. The Haryana Public Service Comn1ission invited all the candidates for the viva voce examination and the interviews lasted for almost half a year. The number of vacancies also rose during the time taken up in the v.ritten examination and the viva voce test and ultimately J 19 posts became available for being filled and on the basis of total marks obtained in the written examination as well as viva-voce test, 119 candidates were selected and recommended by the Haryana Public Service Commission to the State Government. The respondents-petitioners had obtained very high marks at the writtta examination but owing to rather poor n1arks obtained in the viva voce test, they could not come within the first l 19 candidates and were consequently not selected. They filed several writ petitions in the High Court of Punj~b and Haryana cha1Jengiag the validity of the selection of the appellants and seeking a writ for quashing and setting asicfe the same. The State of Haryana, Haryana Public Service Commission, three members of the Haryana Public Service Commission and five selected candidates were respondents to the Writ Petitions. The respondents-petitioners contended berore the High Court : (1) that the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were not men of high integrity, calibre and qualification and they were appointed solely as a matter of political patronage and hence the selections made by them were invalid; (2) that three of the selected candidates were related to two men1bers of the Commission namely, 5hri R.C. Marya and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur and though these two members did not participate in the interview of their respective relatives, they did participate in the interview of other candidate! and the tactic adopted by the Chairman and the members of the Commission was to give high marks to the relatives and awatd low marks to the other candidates so as to ensure the selection of their relatives. This vitiated the entire selection process; (3) that the number of candidates called for interview were almost 20 times the number of vacancies and this not only in1posed an intolerable burden on the Haryana Public Service Commission hL,t also widened the scope for arbitrariness in selection by making it possible for the Haryana Public Service Commission to boost up or deflate the total marks which might be obtained by a candidate. This infirmity had the effect of invaliding the selection made by Haryana Public Service Commission; (4) that the allocation of 200 n1ark:s for the viva voce test out of a total of 900 marks for the generality of students and a total of 600 marks for 1xservicemen was arbitrary and excessive and it had the effect of distorting the entire process of selection and it was accordingly unconstitutional as involvina: denial of equal opportunity in public employment; and (5) that the viva voce test was not conducted fairly and honestly and the selections made were vitiated on account of nepotism. favouritism and casteism and also political motivation. The appellants, however, submitted that the challenge to the \'alidity of selections was unfounded on the grounds; (i) that not onJy was it not competent to the Court on the existing set of pleadings to examine whether the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were men of high integrity, calibre and qualification but also there was no n1aterial at all on the basis of which the Court could possibly come to the conclusion that they were men lacking integrity, calibre or qualification; (ii) that tho Haryana public Service Commission beina: a constitutional authority it was not necessary for Sb. R.C.M arya and Sh. Ra;hubar Dayal Gaur to with~raw altofether from " ASHOK KUMAR V. HARYANA 659 the interviews and they acted correctly i_n ebstaining from participation when their relatives came to be interviewed. This was in conformity with the principles of fair play and did not affect the validity of the selections; \iii) that under Regulation 3 in Appendix I, the Haryana Public Service Commission was justified in calling for interview all the 1300 and odd candidates who quali· fied by getting more than 45% marks; (iv) that the allocation of 200 marks for the viva voce test was made under the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, J930 and it had stood tl e test of time and could not possibly be regarded as arbitrary or exceliisive; and (v) that the selections were made fairly and honestly and they were not tainted by nepotism, favouritism, casteism or political patronage, besides there was nothing to show that any extraneous considerations had influenced the selection proce5s. The High Court set aside the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission and directed th~ Haryana Public Service Commission and the ~tate of Haryana to forthwith declare the result of candidates of all categories on the basis of written examination alone, scrupulously excluding all considerations of the viva voce test. Hence these appeals by the appel1ants, seiectt:d candidates, State of Haryana and three members of the Haryana Public Service Commission. Allowina the aopeals, the Court, HELD : I. (iJ The Division Bench of the High Court was not justified in making condemnatory observations against the Chairman and all the members of the Haryana Public Service Commission. Three members namely S/Sh. D.R. Chaudhary, Raghubar Dayal Gaur and R.C. Marya '¥ere joined as respondent Nos. 3, 4 and 5 but the Chairman Shri B.S. Lather and another member Shri Gurmesh Prakash Bishnoi were not in1pleaded in the writ petitions and yet the most dan1aging observations were made against them This was clearly in violation of the principles of natural justice. Moreover, these observations t11gainst the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public ~ervice Commission were made without any factual basis on the pleadings or the evidence. [672 H; 673 A-Bl (ii) It is difficult to see how on the basis of a mere averment in p!lragraph 9 of one of the writ petitions, which averment was disputed on behalf of the respondents, the Division Bench of the High Court could possibly come to the conclusion that politics had played a major role in appointment of the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission and that they were men lacking in integrity, calibre and qualification, particularly when no such allegation was made by the petitioners in any of the other writ petitions. Therefore, the Division Bench of the High Court was not at all justified in drawing from the facts set out in paragraph 9 of Civil writ Petition No. 3344of1983 any inference that the Chairman and n1embers were totally unfit to be appointed on the Haryana Public Service Commission or that they were not men of integrity, calibre and qualification. However, it may be pointed out that even if the Chairman and memters of the Haryana Public Sen.ice Commission were appointed on account of political and caste considerations, they could still be men of character, integrity and competence and the extraneous considerations which might have weighed with the appointing authority need not necessarily reflect upon their competence, character or fitness. [674 A·C; 675 A-BJ A B c D E F G H A B c D E F G H 660 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985] SUPPL. s.c.R. (iii) The High Court was not justified in undertaking an inquiry into the question whether the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Cornmis\ion were men of integrity, calibre and qualification or not. It was a totaJJy irrelevant i~quriy because even if they were mea lacking in integrity, calibre and qualification, it would not 111ake their appointments invalid, so long as the constitutional and legal requirements in regard to appointment were fulfilled. The High Court was also wrong in going into the question whether the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were appointed on account of caste considerations and political patronage or were Jacking in integrity, calibre or qualification, when the validity of their appointments was not challenged in the writ petitions nor was any relief claimed for setting aside their appointments. The validity of their appointments could not be questioned collaterally while considerin& the challenge to th• selections made by them. In the instant case, no constitutional provision was violated in making appointments of the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission nor was any legal provision breached and the appointments of the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were made in conformity with the constitutional and legal requirements. Jf tha~ be so, it is difficult to see as to how the appointments of the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public fervice commission could be regarded as !luffering from any infirmity or any selections made by the1n could be said to be vitiated, merely on the ground that they were not, in the 'opinion of the Division Bench of the High Court, possessed of integrity, calibre or qualifications. [675 C-D; 676 G·H; 675 H; 676 A·CJ C. Ranga Raju v. State of Andhra Pradesh [1981] 3 S.C.R. 474 relied upon. 2. (i} There was no material whlltsoever on record to justify the observations made by the Division Bench that high marks were undeservedly giv~n to the three candidates related to Shri R.C. Marya and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur and low marks were deliberately given to the other meritorious candidates with a view to manipulating the selection of the former at the cost of the latter. Tn fact, far from there heing any material supportive of such observation, there is one circumstance, which, completely militates against the view taken by the Division Bench and that circumstance is that the marks obtained by the candidates at the written examination were not disclosed to the members of the Haryana Public Service Commission who held the viva voce examination. If the members, who interviewed the candidates, did not know what were the marks obtained by the candidates at the written examination, it is difficult to see how they could have manipulated the marks at the viva voce examination with a view to pushing up the three candidates related to Shri R.C. Marya and Shri Raghubar Dayal Gaur or any other candidates of their choice so as to bring them within the range of selection. [682 C-EJ 2. (ii) It is one of the fundamental principles of jurisprudence that no man can be a judge in his own cause and lhat if there is a reasonable likelihood of bias it is "in accordance with natural justice and common sense that the justice likely to be so biased should be incapacitated from sitting". The question is not whether the jud~e is actuallr biaoed or in fact decides partially, but ASiiOK KUMAR V. HARYANA 661 Whether there is a real likelihood of bias. What is objectionable in such a case is not that the decision is actua\Iy tainted with bias but that the circumstances are such as to create a reasonable apprehension in the mind of others that there is a likelihood of bias affecting the decision. The basic principle underlying this rule is that justice must not only be done but must also appear to be done and this rule has received wide recognition in several decisions of the Supreme Court. It is also important to note that this rule is not confined to cases where judicial power stric to sensu is exercised. It is appropriately extended to all cases where an independent mind has to be applied to arrive at a fair and just decision between the rival claims of parties. Justice is not the function of the courts alone; it is also the duty of all those who are expected to decide fairly between contending parties. The strict standards applied to authorities exercising judicial power are being increasingly applied to administrative bodies, for it is vital to the maintenance of the rule of law in a welfare state where the jurisdiction of administrative bodies is increasing at a rapid pace that the instrumentalities of the State should dis· charge their functions in a fair and just manner. Where reasonable likelihood of bias is alleged on the ground of relationship, the question would always be as to how close is the degree of relationship or in other words, is the nearness of relationship so great as to give rise to reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the authority making the selection. [683 E·H; 684 A-B; 685 C·D] A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India A.l.R. 1970 S.C. 150 relied upon. D.K.. Khanna v. Unian of India & Ors. [1973] I S.L.R. 80; Surinder Nath Goel v. Stale of Punjab [1973] l Ser. L.R. 690 and M. Arijfudin v. D.D. Chitaley & Ors. [1973] 2 Ser. L.R. 119 referred to. 2. (iii) The principle which r:::quires that a men1ber of a selection Con1mittee whose close relative is appearing for selection should decline to become a member of the selection committee or witlldraw from it leaving it to the appointing authority to nominate another person in his place, need not be applied in case of a constitutional Authority like the Public Service Commis· sion, whether Central or State. If a member of a Public Service Comn1ission was to withdraw altogether from the selection process on the ground that a close relative of his is appearing for selection, no other person save a member can be substituted in his place. And it may sometimes happen that no other member is available to take the place of such member and the functioning of the Public Service Commission may be affected. When two more members of a Public Service Commission are holding a viva voce examination, they are functioning not as individuals but as the Public Service Commission. Of course, it must be made clear that when a close relative of a member of a Public Service Commission is appearing for interview, such member must withdraw from · participation ia the interview of that candidate and must not take part in any discussion in regard to the merits of that candidate and even the marks or credits given to that candidate should not be disclosed to him. [686 G·H; 687 A-BJ Ja•id Rasool Bhat v. Statt of I. & K. [1984] 2 S.C.C. 632 relied upon. In the instant case~ both the members of the llaryana Public Serv~ce Cgmmission retired from the room when the inter views of their respective A B c D E F G II A B c D E F G B 662 SUPREME COUR t REPORTS [1985) SUPPL. S.C.R. relatives were held. Moreover, neither of them took any part in any discussion in regard to the merits of his re~atives nor is there anything to show that the marks or credits obtained by their respective relatives at the interviews were disclosed to them. There was no infirmity attaching to the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission on the ground that, though their close relative were appearing for the interview, Shri Ragbubar Dayal Gaur and Shri R.C. Marya did not withdraw completely from the entire selection process. [688 C-D;J 4.(i) The Haryana Public Service Commission was not right in calling for intervil!w all the 1300 and odd candidates who secured 45 per cent or more marks in the written examination. It is clear on a plain natural construction of Regulation 3 that what it prescribes is merely a minimum qualification for eligibility to appear at the viva voce test. Every candidate to be eligible for appearing at the viva voce test must obtain at least 45 per cent marks in the aggregate in the written examination. But obtaining of minimum, 45 per cent marks does not by itself entitle a candidate to insist that he should be called for the viva voce test. There is no obligation on the Haryana public Service Commission to call for the viva voce test all cadidates who satisfy the minimum eligibility requirement. Where there is a composite test consisting of a written examination followed by a \·iva voce test, the number of candidates to be called for interview in order of the marks obtained in the written exainination, should not exceed twice or at the highest, thrice the number of vacancies to be filled. In the instant case, the Haryana Public Service Con1mission could not be said to be actuated by any n1alatide or oblique motive in calling for interview all the 1300 cadidates because it was common ground between the parties that this was the practice which was being consistently followed by the Haryana Public Service Commission over the years and what was done in this case was nothing exceptional. Therefore the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission could not be said to be vitiated merely on the ground that as many as 1300 and 1nore candidates representing more than 20 times the number of available vacancies were called for interview, though it is not right course to follow and not more than twice or at the highest thrice, the number of candidates should have been called for interview. [690 B; E·F. 691 G·H; 629 A-DJ "Theory & Practice of Modern Government" by Harman Finer and Kothari Committee's Report on the Recruitment Policy & Selection Methods for Civil Services Examination referred to 4. (ii) It is true that some of the petitioners did quite well in the written examination but faired badly in the viva voce test and in fact their performance at the viva voce test appeared to have deteriorated in comparison to their performance in the year 19 77-78. But, the Court cannot sit in judgment over the marks awarded by interviewing bodies unless it is proved or ob11ious that the marking is plainly and indubitably arbitrary or affected by oblique motives. It is only if the assessment is patently arbitrary or the risk of arbitrariness is so high that a reasonable person would regard arbitrariness as inevitable, that the assessment of marks at the viva voce test may be regarded as suffering from the vice of arbitrariness. [692 F·G; 693 B-C;j Asltoil KUMAR v. HARYANA 663 Jn the instant case, apart from only three candidates, namely, Trilok Nath Sharma, Shakuntala Rani and Balbir Singh one of v,.hom belonged to the general category and was related to 5hri Raghubar Dayal Gaur and the other two were candidtaes for the seats reserved for scheduled Castes and were related to Shri R.C. Marya, there was no other candidate in whom the Chairman or any member of the Haryana Public Service Commission was interested, 10 that there could be any motive for manipulation of the 1narks at the viva voce examination. There were of course general allegations of casteism made against the Chairman and th~ members of the Haryana Public Service Commission, but these allegations were not substantiated by producing any reliable material before the Court. The Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission in fact belonged to different castes and it was not as if any particular caste was predominant amongst the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission so as even to remotely justify an inference that the marks might have been n1anipulated to favour the candidates of that caste. Therefore, the Didsion Bench was not right in striking down the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission on the ground that they were vitiated by arbitrariness or by reasonable likelihood of bias. [693 D·G] 5 (i) While a written examination assesses the candidate's knowledge and intellectual ability, a viva voce te"st seeks to assess a candidate's overall intellectual and personal qualities. While a written examination has certain distinct advantages over the viva voce test, there arc yet no written tests which can evaluate a candidate's initiative, alertness, resourcefulness, dependableness, cooperativeness, capacity for clear and logical presentation, effectiveness in discucssion, effectiveness in meeting and dealing with others, adaptability, judgment, ability to make decision, ability to lead, inte1lectual and moral integrity. Some of these qualities can be evaluated, perhaps with some degree of error, by a viva voce test, much depending on the constitution of the interview Board. There can therefore be no doubt that the viva voce test performs a very useful function in assessing personnel characteristics and traits and in fact, tests the man himself and is therefore regard<.>d as an important tool along with the written examination. r695 F-G; 690 C-D} 5. (ii) There cannot be any hard and fast rule regarding the precise weight to be given to the viva voce test as against the written examination. It must very from service to service according to the requirement of the service, the minimum qualification prescribed, the age group from which the selection is to, be made, the body to which the task of holding the viva voce test is proposed to be entrusted and a host of other factors. It is essentially a matter for determination by experts. The Court does not possess the necessary equipment and it would not be right for the Court to pro Jounce upon it, unless to use the words of Chinnappa Reddy, J. in Liladhar's case ''exaggerated weight has been given with proven or obvious oblique motives.'' {696 H; 697 A-BJ 5. (iii) The allocation of as high a percentage of marks as 33.3% in case of ex.service officers and 22-2% test in case of other candidates for the viva voce renders the selection process arbitrary and it does suffer from the vice of arbitrarinCH. (697 C·D] Kothari Committee's Report on th1 Recruitment Policy&:: Selection llfethods for the Civil Strvi1t• llWlminstion rtlic• apon A B c D E F G H A B G D E F G H 664 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985) SUPPL s.c.a. In the instant case, the candidates selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission have already been appointed to various posts and have been working on these posts since the last about two years. Moreover the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules 1930 under which 33.3% marks in case of ex-service officers and 22.2% marks in case of other candidates, have been allocated for the viva voce test have been in for~e for almost 50 years and everyone bas acted on the basis of these rules. If selections made in accordance with the prescription contained in these rules are now to be set aside, it will upset a large number of appointments already made on the basis of such selections and the integrity and efficiency of the entire administrative machinery would be seriously jeopardised. Thecefore this Court does not propose to set aside the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission though they have been made on the basis of an unduly high percentage of marks allocated for the viva voce test. (700 B·DJ 6. So far as candidates in general category are concerned, it would be prudent and safe to follow the percentage adopted by the Union Public Service Commission in case of selections to the Indian Administrative Service and other allied services. The percentage of n1arks allocated for the viva voce test by the Union Public Service Commi5sion in case of selections to the Indian Administrative Serdces and other allied service is 12.2, and that has been found to be fair and just, as striking a proper balance between the written examination and the viva voce test. This Court would therefore direct that hereafter in case of selections to be made to the Haryana Civil Services (Executive Branch) and other allied services, where the competitive examination consists of a written examination followed by a viva voce test, the marks allocated for the viva voce test shall not exceed 12.2% of the total marks taken into account for the purpose of selection. The Court \VOUfd suggest that this percentage should also be adopted by the Public Service Commissions in other States, because it is desirable that there should be uniformity in the selection process through out the country and the practice followed by the Union Public Service Commission should be taken as a guide for the State Public Service Commissions to adopt and follow. In case of ex-service officers, having regard to the fact that they would ordinarily be middle aged persons with personalities fully developed, the percentage of marks allocated for the viva voce test may be 25. Whatever selections are made by the Haryana Public Service Commission in the future shall be on the basis that the marks allocated for the viva voce test shall not exceed 12.2% in case of candidates belonging to the general cate&ory and 25% in case of ex-service officers. (700 F-H; 701 A-DJ 7. The Court directed that when seiections to the Judicial Service are being made in a State, a sitting Judge of the High Court to be nominated by the Chief Justice of the State should be invited to participate in the interview as an expert who, by reason of the fact that he is a sitting High Court Judge, knows the quality and character of the candidates appearing for the interview and the advice given by him should ordinarily be accepted, unless there are strong and cogent reasons for not accepting such advice and such strong and cogent reasons must be recorded in writting by the Chairman and members of tho Public Service Commission. 70Z E·G J ASaoK KUMAR v. HARYANA (Bhagwati, J.) 665 CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 1016010162 of 1983. A From the Judgment and Order dated 20.10.1983 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Writ Petition No. 2495 of 1983. P.P. Rao, A. Mariarputham, K.S. Kendriya and R. Venkatarumani for the Appellants in C.A, No. 10160 of 1983. G.L. Sang hi, S.K. Mehta, P.N. Puri, M.K. Dua and A.K. Vachar for the Appellants in C.A. No. 10161 of 1983. B A.K. Ganguli for the Appellants in C.A. No. 10162 of 1983. C M.K. Ramamurthi, Mahabir Singh, S. Srinivasan and Vijay Hansaria for the Respondents Nos. 6 & 7 in C.A. No. 10160of1983. R.K Garg, Mahabir Singh, S. Srinivasan and Vijay Hansaria for the Respondents Nos. l, 2and 16 in C.A. No. 10161 and ResponD dents Nos. 8 & 9 in C.A. No. 10162 of 1983. Th~ Judgment of the Court was delivered by BHAGWATI, J. These appeals by special leave are directed against a judgment of the Division Bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court quashing and setting aside certain selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission to the Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied services. The judgment in part proceeds on surmises and conjectures and has made certain uncharitable observations against the Chairman and Members of the Haryana Public Service Commission without any warrant and hence it is necessary to set out the facts giving rise to the appeals in some detail. Sometime in October 1980 the Haryana Public Service Commisiion invited applications for recruitment to 61 posts in Haryana Civil Service (Executive) and other allied Services. The procedure for recruitment was governed by the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 1930 as applicable in the State of Haryana. Rule 9 clause (I) of these Rules provided that a competitive examination shall be held at any place in Haryana in each year in or about the month of January for the purpose of selection by competition of as many candidates for the Haryana Civil Service (Executive), and othes allied services as the Governor of Haryana may determine and F G B A B c D E F G H 666 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985) SUPPL. s.c.R.. such competitive examination shall be held in accordance with the Regulations contained in Appendix I to the Rules. Rule 10 laid down the conditions for eligibility to appear at the competitive examination but we are not concerned with these conditions of eligibility in the present appeals. Regulation I in Appendix I provided that the competitive examination shall include compulsory and optional subjects and every candidate shall take all the compulsory subjects and not more than three of the optional subjects, provided that ex-serviceman shall not be required to appear in the optional subjects. The compulsory subjects included English Essay, Hindi Essay and General knowledge carrying in the aggregate 400 marks and there was also viva-voce examination which was compulsory and whlch carried 200 marks and each optional subject carried 100 marks. Vide Regulation 5. The result was that the written examination carried an aggregate of 700 marks for candidates in general and for ex-servicemen, it carried an aggregate of 400 markes while in case of both, the viva voce examination carried 200 marks. Some argument has turned on the true interpretation of Regulation 3 and hence it would be desirable to set it out in extenso. It read as follows· "3. No candidate shall be eligible to appear in the viva voce test unless he obtaim 45 per cent marks m the aggregate of all subjects including at least 33 per cent marks in each of the language papers in Hindi (in Devnagri Script) and Hindi Essay provided that if at any examination a sufficient number of candidates do not obtain 45 per cent marks in the aggregate the Commission may at their discretion lower this percentage to not below 40 per cent for the language papers remaining un· changed." It appears that in response to the advertisement issued by the Haryana Public Service Commission, about 6000 candidates applied for recruit· ment and appeared at the written examination held by the Haryana Public Seruice Commission. Out of about 6000 candidates who appeared for the written examination, over 1300 obtained more than 45 per cent marks and thus qualified for being called for interview for the viva voce examination. The Haryana Public Service Commission invited all the 1300 and more candidates who qualified for the viva voce test, for interview and the interviews lasted for almost half a year. It seems that though originally applications were invited for recruitment to 61 posts, the number of vacancies rose ASHOll KUMAR v. H'-RYANA (lJhagwati, J.) 667 during the time taken up in the written examination and the viva voce test and test and ultimately 119 posts became available for being filled and on the basis of total marks obtained in the written examination as well as viva·voce test, 119 candidates were selected and recommended by the Hdryana Public Service Commission to the State Government. It seems that there were some candidates who bad obtained very high marks at the written examination bnt owing to rather poor marks obtained by them in the viva voce test, they could not come within the first 119 candidates and they were consequently not sel cted. They were aggrieved by the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission and three out of them accordingly filed Civil writ No. 2495 of 1983 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana challenging the validity of the selections and seeking a writ for quashing and setting aside the same. They also claimed that the marks given in the v va voce test should be ignored and selections should be made only on the basis of the marks obtained by the candidates at the written examination and they contended that if that was done, they would be within first 119 to be selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission. Some other can· didates who did not figure in the list of 119 selected candidates also filed Civil Writ Petition Nos. 2317, 3344, 3345, 3434, 3457, 3435 and 3719 of 1983 in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana challenging the validity of the selections on substantially the same grounds and claiming sub,tantially the same reliefs as the petitioners in Civil Writ Petition 2495 of 1983. The State of Haryana was joined as !st respondent, the Haryana Public Service Commission as 2nd responde11t anJ three out of the five members of the Haryana Public Service Commission, as respondent' Nos. 3 to 5 in these writ petitions. The Chairman and one other member of Haryana Public Service Commission, namely, Shri B.S. Lather and Shri Gurmesh Prakash Bishnoi were however not impleaded as respondents in the writ petitions. None of the 119 selected candidates were also joined as respondents in the writ petitions. Five our of the 119 selected candidates thereupon applied for being joined as respondents to these writ petitions and on their application, they were added as respon· dent Nos. 6 to 10 in the writ petitions .. This Wa5 broadly the array of parties in the writ petitions. Since all the writ petitions raised substantially the same issues and the pleadings in the writ petitions also followed substantially the same pattern, one writ petition, namely, Civil Writ Petition 2495 of 1983 was treated as the main writ petition and the principal arguments were advanced in that writ petition, It would therefore be A B c D E F G ff A 8 c D F H 668 SUPREME COURT REPORTS -[l 985] SUPPL. s.c.a. convenient to refer only to Civil Writ Petition 2495 of 1983 and trace the course followed by it in the High Court because whatever we say in regard to this writ petition would apply equally to the other writ petitions. So far as Civil Writ Petition No. 2495 of 1983 is concer· ned, the State of Haryana filed its counter affidavit in reply to the writ petition and so also did the Haryana Public Service Commission The five selected candidates who were impleaded as respondents Nos. 6 to IO also filed their counter affidavit joining issue with the petitioners. We do not propose to set out here at this stage the averments made in the writ petition or the answer to those avermenl! made on behalf of the respondents, because we shall have to refer to them in some detail when we deal with the arguments advanced on behalf of the parties. Suffice it to state that the averoments made in the writ petition and the answer sought to b~ given on behalf of the respondents raised issues of considerable importance affecting not only the Haryana Public Service Commission but also all other State Public Service Commissions and calling for formulation of principle and norms which should guide all State Public Service Commissions in the discharge of their functions. We may briefly set out the grounds on which the petitioners challenged the validity of th• selections mad• by the Haryana Public Service Commi11ion. There were several grounds on which the validity of the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission was assailed on behalf of the petitioners and a declaration was sought that they were entitled to be selected as falling within the first 119 candidates. The first ground was that the Chairman and members of the Haryana Public Service Commission were not men of high integrity, calibre and qualification and they were appointed solely as a matter of political patronage and hence the selections made by them were invalid. Secondly, it was urged on behalf of the petitioners that two of the selected candidates, namely, Mrs. Shakuntala Rani and Balbir Singh were related to one of the members of the Haryana Public Service Commission namely, Sh. R.C. Marya, while the third selected candidate namely Trilok Nath Sharma was related to another member namely, Sh. Raghubar Dayal Gaur and though these two members did not participate in the interview of their respective relatives they did participate in the interview of other candidates and the tactics adopted by the Chairman and the members of the Commission was to give high marks to the relatives and award low marks to the other candidates so as to ensure the selection of their relatives. This, according to ASHOK KUMAR v. HARYANA (Bhagwatl, J.) 669 petitioners, vitiated the entire selection process. Thirdly, contended the petitioners, it was contrary to the well settled practice followed by the Union Public Service Commi•sion and other selecting authorities to call for interview as many as 1300 candidates even though the number of vacancies required to be filled in was only 119. The number of candidates called for interview was almost 20 times the number of vacancies and this not only imposed an intolerable burden on the Haryana Public Service Commission but also widened the scope for arbitrariness in rnlection by making it possible for the Haryana Public Service Commission to boost up or deflate the total marks which might be obtained by a candidate. The argument of the petitioners was that the number of candidates to be called for interview should not exceed twice or at the highest, thrice the number of vacancies because otherwise the objective test of written examination would be considerably diluted by the subjective assessment made in the vive voce test and there would be considerable scope for arbitrariness in the process of selection. This infirmity, submitted the petitioners, had the effect of invalidin& the selections made by the Haryana Public Service Commission. The fourth cont