"In a welfare state, it is not open to officers of the state to act in such a callous manner with the rights of a citizen of the country, as it is not easy to get a job now-a-days," Justice Vinod K Sharma observed in his order, allowing a writ petition by C Venkatesh.
"A person duly selected for appointment has been denied appointment on totally irrelevant consideration and careless attitude," he said.
The judge also imposed costs of Rs 50,000, payable to the petitioner, considering that he had been denied appointment for nearly 12 years.
Venkatesh contended he was selected for Grade II constable post. But his community certificate was wrongly sent for verification to the Dharmapuri district collector, who was not the competent officer.
Therefore, the collector had not taken any action, he claimed and added that the police department also had not taken steps to issue the appointment order to him, subject to the verification of the certificate.
In the counter, state authorities had also not disputed selection of the petitioner and that the certificate had been sent to the collector for verification, which was not done.
"The action of the respondents, therefore, on the face of it, is arbitrary and thus amounts to colourable exercise of power and shows callous attitude towards right of a citizen," the judge said.
"Once the community certificate was enclosed with the application,the petitioner should have been given appointment, subject to verification of the certificate," the judge said.
