High Court Permits Candidates From Other States To Appear For Madhya Pradesh State Civil Services Exam

Justice Vivek Agarwal was essentially dealing with a writ petition filed by a resident of Jharkhand who was unable to register himself for the MPSC exam. He sought for a direction to the authorities to open application forms for the MPSC Examination, 2021, for which the last date for submission is March 12, to all the candidates irrespective of the domiciles..

Through his submissions, the Petitioner explained to the Court how the online registration form for the exam was structured in a way that prevented those candidates to register themselves, who were not residents of MP.

On the other hand, the State submitted that even outsiders could register but the General Administration Department had made it mandatory that for Class-III & Class-IV posts, the candidates must have registration with the Employment Office in the State of Madhya Pradesh. It further produced a copy of communication received from the Employment Commissioner, Bhopal to the effect that in case of Class-I & Class-II posts, the mandatory requirement of registration with Employment Exchange of the State of Madhya Pradesh could be thought to be dispensed with.

Examining the submissions put forth by them, the Court noted that the State is indirectly trying to reserve all posts for domiciles/residents of M.P.-

It is evident that though Shri M.S.Markam submits that the people from other States can also register but he is not in a position to contradict the official response given to the petitioner by the PPP Partner of the State of Madhya Pradesh as is evident from Annexure P/7. Thus, when read in conjunction with the Communication dated 17.1.2022 issued by the Employment Commissioner, it is evident that indirectly the State of Madhya Pradesh is trying to reserve all the posts advertised by the Public Service Commission for the domiciles/residents of the Madhya Pradesh.

Referring to the provisions under Article 16 and Article 19 of the Constitution of India, along with the jurisprudence laid down by the Apex Court in that regard, the Court observed that it could not side with the intentions of the State to reserve all the seats for the residents of M.P.-

When the aforesaid pronouncement of law & object of Article 16 of the Constitution of India, which is to create a constitutional right to equality of opportunity & employment in Public Offices are taken into consideration then the decision of the authorities of the State to reserve Class-III & Class-IV posts for the domiciles of the State of the Madhya Pradesh cannot be given seal of approval.

Similarly, there is tacit admission by the Employment Commissioner that they can think of terminating the compulsory nature of registration with the State Employment Exchanges for Class-I & Class-II posts brings us to the issue that the authorities are trying to implement reservation for its domiciles/residents through a backdoor and that being not permissible needs to be curbed.

With the aforesaid observations, the Court directed the MPPSC to ensure that candidates residing outside M.P. are also able to register themselves for the exam, and if needed, extend the last date for submitting applications-

In that view of the matter, it is directed that all the candidates not belonging to the State of Madhya Pradesh will be permitted to participate in the competitive examination for which the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission shall make adequate improvisation in its website & permit these candidates to send their application forms for which if the need arises the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission shall consider & notify a new date for filling up the application forms giving them atleast seven days' further time to do the needful.

Case Title: Adam Khan v. State of MP& Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (MP) 68