Summary
Work-experience weightage for Bihar medical recruitment extended beyond hospitals directly run by the State Government to non-private public hospitals within Bihar, including Central Government, local-government and public-authority hospitals. Participation in selection did not bar a challenge to misconstruction of the governing rules. A fresh merit list was ordered, without treating weightage as determining suitability.
Issues
- Whether participation barred a challenge to the respondents’ interpretation of recruitment rules.
- Whether Government hospital meant only a hospital directly administered by Bihar Government.
- What consequential relief was appropriate.
Provisions considered
- Rules 5 and 6(iii), Bihar Health Service (Appointment and Service Conditions) Rules, 2013Experience in non-private public hospitals within Bihar qualifies for weightage, including hospitals of State instrumentalities, Central Government, local bodies and other public authorities. (¶¶ 9, 24, 25, 28, 34, 36, 37)
Held
- Participation accepts the prescribed procedure, not illegality or misconstruction of statutory rules. The appellant’s limited interpretive challenge could not be rejected merely because she participated and was unsuccessful. (¶¶ 17, 18, 19, 20)
- The definition of Government as Bihar Government did not control its adjectival use in Government hospital. The word any, contextual opening of the definitions and public-employment objectives supported the wider construction; an advertisement cannot narrow statutory rules. (¶¶ 11, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
- Public hospitals run by the Centre, State instrumentalities and local authorities serve comparable constitutional purposes. Excluding their experience within Bihar lacked rational justification for the rule’s objective of recognising experience under non-private hospital conditions. (¶¶ 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
- A fresh merit list must give due experience weightage to the appellant and similarly placed candidates within two months. This did not guarantee selection or decide any candidate’s suitability. (¶¶ 20, 37)
Result
Appeal allowed. Rules 5 and 6(iii) were construed to include the specified non-private hospital experience within Bihar, and respondents directed to rework the merit list within two months. Experience weightage was expressly stated to have no bearing on suitability.