KOCHI: The High Court on Wednesday held that the rule which gave a weightage of five marks in the district-wise PSC examinations for candidates who are applying in their native districts was unconstitutional.Justice Antony Dominic passed the order while considering a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Rule 5 A of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules. According to the rule, the candidates who write a PSC examination belonging to their districts and qualified for the interview shall be given a weightage of five marks. “Article 16 of the Constitution provides for equality in the matter of public employment and also prohibits discrimination on grounds only for those mentioned in clause (2). Further clause (3) empowers only Parliament to make any law providing residence as requirement for appointment in the state,” the court said. The court also pointed out that an apex court judgment had stated that the rules cannot survive in the light of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The court declined to accept the submission of the state that the weightage mark awarded on the basis of nativity was beneficial to rural candidates.The petitioners submitted that confining the benefits only to natives of the districts was illegal. “The petitioners were born in one district and owing to various reasons such as marriage and migration, they had to settle down permanently in other districts. So there is confusion over the issue,” the petitioners’ counsel submitted. However, the PSC submitted that there was no uniform format for the nativity certificate and it had written to the govt requesting a uniform format. The court, however, clarified that the judgment shall not affect the recruitment that has already been made by giving the benefit of Rule 5 A of KS &SSR.
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