SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya High Court on August 26 sought original records pertaining to the selection process for appointment of drivers in the Soil and Conservation Department of the state.
The order was passed by the two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh after hearing a petition filed by one Pynskhemlang Nongrang, who had questioned the results of the selection process for the post.
“The official respondents should produce the original records pertaining to the selection process, including the marks allotted by the individual examiners at the interview and their comments, if any. All working-sheets pertaining to the interview should be produced along with the records,” the order said.
The selection process consisted of two parts: a practical test where driving skills were assessed and an interview.
The order said it is the state’s assertion that 50 per cent of the marks were allotted for the practical examination and another 50 for the interview.
In practical examination, the appellant secured 84 out of 100 marks while the original private respondent secured 70 marks out of 100 and the added private respondent secured 73 marks out of 100.
In the subsequent interview, however, the third respondent herein is said to have secured 87 marks and the appellant 60 marks.
“Though the exact marks obtained in the interview by the added respondent cannot be indicated by the State at the moment, it is evident that the cumulative marks of the added respondent also exceeded 144,” it said.
“Since, ordinarily, a person more suited to obtaining a driving appointment would be a person whose driving skills are better, as evident from the practical examination results, the matter has to be looked into to ascertain how the appellant, despite being head and shoulders over the rest of the field in driving skill could fare so poorly in the interview to not qualify for even the second of the two posts,” the order further stated.
The next hearing on the matter will be held on September 1.