Govt can decide not to fill vacancies, rules Kerala high court

Kochi: The govt, being the appointing authority, has every right to decide that a particular number of vacancies in a post should not be filled, on reasonable and genuine grounds, even if a valid rank list is in force, the high court has held.

A bench of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and P Krishna Kumar made the ruling while setting aside an order of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) that had directed the state to redetermine the cadre strength of Kerala Administrative Service (KAS) officers (junior time scale) and make appointments to the remaining vacancies from the expired rank list. The bench was considering a batch of appeals filed by the state govt challenging KAT's orders in various petitions.

Earlier, candidates included in the rank list prepared in 2021 for the said post had approached the KAT, challenging the fixation of cadre strength for KAS officers (junior time scale) at 105. They contended that the figure was erroneous, asserting that the cadre strength should be 120.6 — 10% of the total sanctioned posts, which is 1,206. They further argued that at least 26 additional posts could have been filled from the rank list (including 5 deputy collectors, 11 administrative officers and 10 district educational officers), but the govt had unjustifiably limited the number to 105. Even though the rank list had expired in Oct 2022, the KAT directed the state to make appointments to the remaining posts from the same list.

While considering the appeals, HC held that the appointing authority is entitled to decide, on reasonable and genuine grounds, not to fill certain vacancies. Such a decision can be challenged in court only if it is found to be arbitrary, unreasonable, or manifestly illegal. The bench further observed that a direction to fill vacancies from an expired rank list cannot be issued merely because the appointing authority had previously failed to comply with a court direction to report the vacancies.

Accordingly, the court set aside the KAT's order and upheld the action of the state govt in fixing the cadre strength at 105.