The petitioners are included in the ranked list for the post of Electricity Worker/Mazdoor which came into force on 30th January 2008 and expired on 31st May 2011. The grievance of the petitioners is that there were many vacancies before the expiry of the rank list. The respondent Board did not make any efforts to fill up those vacancies. In this regard, the petitioners secured information about the existence of vacancies through Ext.P6 in 2011 itself, when the rank list was subsisting. Mysteriously, the petitioners did not make any further efforts to assert their rights, if any, till the rank list expired. Even after the expiry of the rank list, the petitioners waited for more than three years before approaching this Court. 2. The learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that, earlier, another batch of persons, whose names were reflected in the rank list, filed W.P.(C)6468/2011, agitating the same issue and that the said writ petition is still pending. According to the learned W.P(. C)No.28147 OF 2014 : 2 :
counsel, since the issue is still alive, the present writ petition can be tagged on to the said writ petition, so that there can be a comprehensive adjudication of the issue.
3. Appealing as the submission is, the fact still remains that the petitioners in W.P(. C)No.6468/2011 were diligent in approaching this Court at the earliest point of time questioning the action of the respondent in not filling the vacancies. As far as the petitioners in the writ petition are concerned, they have been indolent and have not approached the Court at the earliest point of time. Though limitation in strict terms does not apply to the proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, Courts have, as a matter of public policy adopted the principle of laches to weed out the matters which do not survive consideration on various grounds, including inordinate delay in filing of the writ petition.
On a perusal of the writ petition, I do not find any reason forthcoming from the petitioners for the substantial delay in filing the writ petition. In my view, writ petition does not survive and is accordingly dismissed without cost.
jes DAMA SESHADRI NAIDU, JUDGE