Page No.# 1/7 GAHC010000572025 2025:GAU-AS:306 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/21/2025 JAGRATO RAY S/O- POLO RAM RAY, R/O- VILL.- MAJGAON, PART-II, P.O. CHAKAPARA, DIST. BONGAIGAON, ASSAM, PIN- 7833802. (ROLL NO. 01248040000833, REGISTRATION ID- CISF2201325534). VERSUS THE UNION OF INDIA AND 5 ORS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO THE UNION OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS, NEW DELHI-110001. 2:THE DIRECTOR GENERAL CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY FORCE (CISF) BLOCK NO. 13 CGO COMPLEX NEW DELHI-110003. 3:THE INSPECTOR GENERAL CISF NORTH EASTERN SECTOR GUWAHATI-40. 4:THE COMMANDANT CISF UNIT NUMALIGARH REFINERY NUMALIGARH DIST. GOLAGHAT ASSAM PIN- 785615. 5:THE COMMANDANT Page No.# 2/7 CISF UNIT IOC (G) NOONMATI REFINERY NOONMATI DIST. KAMRUP(M) ASSAM PIN- 781012. 6:THE PET/PST/DV BOARD CONSTITUTED VIDE ADVERTISEMENT DATED- 21/08/2024 REPRESENTED BY THE ASSTT. COMMANDANT CISF UNIT IOC (G) NOONMATI REFINERY NOONMATI PIN- 781012 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. K R PATGIRI, MS CHITRALEKHA DAS Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I., BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY ORDER Date : 08-01-2025 Heard Mr. K.R. Patgiri, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. K. Gogoi, learned Central Government Counsel [CGC] for all the respondents. 2. Having regard to the limited issue raised in this writ petition and as agreed to by the learned counsel for the parties, the writ petition is taken up for final consideration at the motion stage itself. 3. By a Notice : ‘Recruitment of Constable/Fire [Male]-2024 in CISF’, online applications were invited from male Indian citizens for filling up a nos. of temporary posts of Constable/Fire in Central Industrial Security Force in the Pay Level-3 [Rs. 21,700-69,100/-] plus usual allowances as admissible to the Central Page No.# 3/7 Government employees from time to time. The vacancies available to be filled up were mentioned in the said Notice. Apart from the educational qualification, age limit, etc., the Notice in Clause 13 has set forth the procedure to be followed in the recruitment process. 4. As the issue raised in this writ petition is with regard to height, the relevant excerpts of Clause 13 are extracted hereinbelow for ready reference :- 13. Recruitment Process :- 13.1 Physical Efficiency Test [PET]/ Physical Standard Test [PST]/Document Verification [DV] : All candidates who register themselves in response to this advertisement by the closing date and time and whose applications are provisionally accepted and found to be in order will be called to appear in PET/PST/DV. Physical Efficiency Test [PET], Physical Standard Test [PST] and Document Verification [DV] will be conducted at various centres. Therefore, it will be the responsibility of the candidates to verify their eligibility as prescribed in this notice before appearing for PET/PST/DV. Candidates who are found eligible on Height Bar Test will undergo PET [Running Event] followed by biometric registration [Left thumb Impression [LTI] / Right thumb impression [RTI] /Fingers Impression] before PST. Scrutiny of eligibility of candidates for any relaxation i.e. age, height and chest measurement will be carried out after qualifying PET [Running Event] and before PST by PET/PST/DV Boards. The PST shall include measurement of height, chest & weight. Detailed scrutiny of candidate's eligibility/ documents will be carried out after PST. * * * * * 13.1.2 Physical Efficiency Test [PET] : Candidates have to clear 5 Kms running event in 24 minutes. 13.1.3 Physical Standard Test [PST] - Candidates who qualify Height Bar Test & PET [Running Event] will be screened for height, chest and weight by the Board of Officers. Physical Standards for the post are as follows :- Page No.# 4/7 i] Height – 170 Cms ii] Chest – 80-85 Cms [Minimum expansion 5 Cms] iii] Permissible relaxation in Physical Standards for different categories of candidates are as under :- Relaxation for Height Chest [a] Candidates belonging to hill areas of the Garhwal, Kumaon, Himachal Pradesh, **Gorkhas, Dogras, Marathas, Sikkimies, Ladakh, Kashmir Valley of J&K and North Eastern States 165 Cms 78-83 Cms [Minimum expansion 5 Cms] ** Candidates hailing from Gorkha Territorial Administration [GTA] comprising of the three Sub-Divisions of Darjeeling District namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong and includes the following “Mouzas” Sub-Division of these Districts : [1] Lohagarh Tea Garden [2] Lohagarh Forest [3] Rangmohan [4] Barachenga [5] Panighata [6] ChotaAdalpur [7] Paharu [8] Sukna Forest [9] Sukna Part-I [10] Pantapati Forest-I [11] Mahanadi Forest [12] Champasari Forest [13] SalbariChhat Part-II [14] Sitong Forest [15] Sivoke Hill Forest [16] Sivoke Forest [17] Chhotachenga [18] Nipania [b] Candidates belonging to Tribal or Adivasis including Mizos and Nagas 162.5 Cms 77-82 Cms [Minimum expansion 5 Cms] 13.1.4 Relaxation in height and chest [as the case may be] as mentioned above for the candidates other than those belonging to ST category will be permissible only on production of original certificate at the time of PET/PST/DV in the proforma as prescribed in Annexure-VI from the competent authorities. ST candidates may avail the relaxation on the production of valid original ST Certificate. 13.1.5 Candidates who are declared not qualified in Physical Standards i.e. height and chest may prefer an appeal on same day, if they so desire, to the Appellate Authority nominated for the Centre through Presiding Officer [PO]. The decision of the Appellate Authority will be final and no further appeal or representation in this regard will be entertained thereafter. There is no appeal in PET [Running Event]. Page No.# 5/7 13.1.6 PET/PST will not carry any marks but will be of qualifying in nature. 5. It can be seen from the Table extracted herein above that a candidate belonging to the North Eastern states should have a height of 165 cm. 6. It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner successfully passed the Height Bar Test to undergo PET [Running Event]. After qualifying in the PET [Running Event], the petitioner’s height was measured again before the Physical Standard Test [PST] and at that stage also, the petitioner was found to be meeting the height criterion of 165 cm. After qualifying the Height Bar Test and PET [Running Event], the petitioner was again screened for height by the PST Board of Officers. At that stage, a rejection slip was issued on 26.12.2024 by the respondent authorities in the CISF by recording that the petitioner’s height was found to be 164.5 cm on measurement and the petitioner has been held disqualified on that account to participate in the subsequent stages of the recruitment process. 7. The petitioner has annexed two documents to the instant writ petition as Annexure-8 and Annexure 9 respectively to claim that the petitioner meets the height criteria of 165 cm for the recruitment process. Annexure-8 is a document issued in respect of a recruitment process undertaken for the post of Constable [GD] in Central Armed Police Forces [CAPFs] for the year 2021 wherein the petitioner had participated with Roll no. 5105114210. In the Physical Standard Test [PST] and Physical Efficiency Test [PET] in the said recruitment process, the petitioner was found to be of height 165 cm. Similarly, Annexure-9 is a document issued in respect of a recruitment process undertaken for the post of Constable [GD] in Central Armed Police Forces [CAPFs] for the year 2024 wherein the petitioner had participated with Roll no. 5105020228. In the Page No.# 6/7 Physical Standard Test [PST] and Physical Efficiency Test [PET] in the said recruitment process, the petitioner was found to be of height 165.2 cm. 8. On perusal of the aforementioned two documents, it appears prima facie that in the recruitment processes undertaken for the post of Constable [GD] in CAPF during the year 2021 and 2024, the petitioner was found to be of height 165 cm. The petitioner has been able to make out a prima facie case that the height recorded by the respondent authorities on 26.12.2024 could be an aberration. 9. Mr. Gogoi, learned CGC appearing for the respondent has submitted that in view of the afore-mentioned two documents wherein the petitioner was found to have met the height criteria of 165 cm, the possibility of certain discrepancy in measurement of height of the petitioner on 26.12.2024 cannot be ruled out. Mr. Gogoi, learned CGC has fairly submitted that the case of the petitioner may be remanded back to the respondent authorities for redoing the exercise of measuring the height of the petitioner. 10. Mr. Patgiri, learned counsel for the petitioner has agreed to the line of submission made by Mr. Gogoi. 11. Having regard to the facts emerging prima facie from the afore-mentioned two documents [Annexure-8 & Annexure-9] indicating that the petitioner meets the height criteria of 165 cm vis-à-vis the height measured on 26.12.2024 in the recruitment process of Constable/Fire [Male]-2024 in the CISF; and the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, it appears appropriate to this court to dispose of the writ petition by remanding back the matter to the respondent authorities in the CISF with a direction to undertake the exercise of Page No.# 7/7 measuring the height of the petitioner afresh under videography so as to find out whether he meets the height criteria of 165 cm for the post of Constable/Fire [Male] in CISF in terms of the notice of recruitment of Constable/Fire [Male]-2024 in CISF. It is accordingly ordered. The respondent authorities shall complete the exercise within a period of 1 [one] week from the date of submission of a copy of this order along with a copy of the writ petition along with annexures at the office of the respondent no. 5 by the petitioner. It is further ordered that after completion of the exercise of measuring height, the outcome shall be informed to the petitioner forthwith thereafter in writing. 12. With the observations made and directions given above, this writ petition stands disposed of. No cost. JUDGE Comparing Assistant