The Orissa High Court has ruled that there is no requirement to monitor the blood pressure of candidates aspiring for forest officers’ posts and to disqualify them solely on the basis of blood pressure measurement is illegal.
High Court Of Orissa
The Orissa High Court has ruled that there is no requirement to monitor the blood pressure of candidates aspiring for forest officers’ posts and to disqualify them solely on the basis of blood pressure measurement is illegal.
The court’s direction came in the wake of a batch of writ petitions filed by at least nine candidates for the Assistant Conservator of Forests and Forest Ranger post who were disqualified for the physical endurance test after qualifying the written test.
Advertisement
Describing the petitioners’ disqualification as arbitrary and illegal, the Single Bench of Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra in an order pronounced on Monday stated that “the Court is of the considered view that there is no such provision to disqualify a candidate only on the basis of the measurement of blood pressure of such candidates.
Advertisement
“Therefore, this Court has no hesitation in coming to a conclusion that the Opposite Parties (government_ have committed a gross error of law by not adhering to the terms and conditions of the advertisement as well as the Rules, 2013 and, as such, their conduct can very well be declared as illegal and arbitrary.
The petitioners who were disqualified from appearing the physical endurance test already qualified in the combined written test of Forest Ranger and Assistant Conservator of Forests.
They sought High Court’s intervention for a direction to the Government to allow them to participate in the next phase of recruitment test, i.e. Physical Endurance Test of Walking, and to permit them to participate in the viva voce test.
In May, 2023, the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) published an advertisement online for recruitment to 45 posts of Assistant Conservator of Forests (Group A – JB) and 131 posts of Forest Ranger (Group-B) under Odisha Forest Service Cadre.
The petitioners alleged that the digital Blood Pressure instrument used for the purpose was a faulty instrument and the same did not reflect the correct reading.
The recruitment clause provided that the candidates must pass the physical endurance test of walking which has been prescribed as 25 kilo metres in four hours for male candidates and 16 Kilometres in four hours for female candidates.
“The Court directs the Opposite Parties to allow the Petitioners to participate in the physical endurance test subject to the Petitioners furnishing an undertaking supported by a certificate from a registered medical practitioner/physician that their blood pressure is normal.
“Such physical endurance tests be conducted by the Opposite Parties within a period of four weeks from the date of communication of this order”, Justice Mohapatra directed the Government in the order.
It is needless to mention here that in the event the petitioners are found suitable in the physical endurance test, they shall be allowed to participate in the further recruitment process and the final result of the recruitment shall depend upon the performance of the Petitioners in such test, the order concluded.
Advertisement
