Jharkhand: High Court holds appointment of a judicial magistrate illegal

Jharkhand High Court on Monday held the appointment of one Chanchal Kumar as a Judicial Magistrate illegal for taking benefit of reservation under BC-1 in the interview while he himself had applied for the post in the caste category BC-2.

High Court also appointed the petitioner in his place as she was the next in the merit list in the said caste category.

The division bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice S Chandra Shekhar, while taking up a case filed by petitioner Mosrat Ziya Tata, quashed the appointment of Kumar and appointed the petitioner in his place.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on Jharkhand Public Service Commission, which was responsible for the wrong selection of Kumar, who had undergone training as Judicial Magistrate in the Judicial Academy.

According to the petitioner, Kumar got appointed as Judicial Magistrate on the certificate of BC-1 at the time of interview while he had himself claimed to be a member of a caste under BC-2 category while applying for the post.

It was alleged that the examination controller of JPSC took him as BC-1 during interview and Kumar was benefitted because of this wrongful act of the JPSC and got appointed as the Judicial Magistrate.