The main legal point established in the judgment is that age relaxation and the award of bonus marks to project-employed applicants were found to be valid and non-discriminatory under the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Prabodhak Service Rules, 2008.

JUDGMENT :

K.V. Viswanathan, J.

1. Leave granted in SLP (Civil) No. 34742 of 2013 and SLP (Civil) No. 34663 of 2013.

2. This batch of 47 appeals involves common questions of law. They arise from the judgments of the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jaipur Bench, Jaipur. The main appeal, namely, Civil Appeal 7906 of 2010 (Mahesh Chand Bareth & Anr. Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.) (hereinafter referred to as ‘Mahesh Chand Bareth’) arises out of a judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jaipur Bench, Jaipur in D.B. Civil Special Appeal No. 402 of 2009 dated 21.05.2010. The other matters arise out of the same batch as Mahesh Chand Bareth or out of the judgments relying on Mahesh Chand Bareth or based on the judgments which, in turn, relied on Mahesh Chand Bareth. By virtue of the said judgments, the appellants were denied relief. The appellants challenged the selection of candidates to the post of “Prabodhak” (teacher) by virtue of advertisement issued on 31.05.2008. Recruitment and other service conditions for the post of Prabodhak are governed by the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Prabodhak Service Rules, 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Rules’).

3. About 20060 vacancies were advertised and the vacancies came to be filled up soon thereafter. The grievance of the appellants is that their candidature should also be considered for the appointment on the post of ‘Prabodhak’, by adopting similar criteria in the grant of bonus marks for teaching experience as was done in the case of the applicants who had experience of working in Government educational projects. Their further grievance is that Rule 13(v) of the Rules insofar as it provides for age relaxation to those persons serving under educational projects is a provision which is unconstitutional and invalid.

Background facts:

4. A brief narration of the background facts is essential for appreciating the issues involved in this case. The Shiksha Karmi Project was a unique initiative launched in the State of Rajasthan in 1987 with assistance from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The object was to seek to reach out to children in remote rural areas where the formal primary schools are either not in existence or dysfunctional. Local youth with some basic educational qualifications were identified, trained and provided continuous educational support to teach children in Shiksha Karmi Day Schools, Prehar Pathshalas (Schools of convenient timings) and Angan Pathshalas (Courtyard Schools).

5. The concept of Shiksha Karmi Project (as is clear to us from the document containing a study, placed on record by the appellants) indicates that the Shiksha Karmi Project rested on the assumption that barefoot teachers belonging to the local community, who enjoy local community support if intensively trained, can overcome lack of formal educational qualification.

6. They were selected through an established procedure laid out in the manuals and once the Gram Sabha voted on the creation of a Shiksha Karmi School, spot tests were held to identify Shiksha Karmis. The Shiksha Karmi Project had significant overlaps with the Lok Jumbish Project and the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP).

7. The Shiksha Karmi Project was fairly successful in reaching out to children from disadvantaged communities. A person serving in various educational projects possessed rich experience of teaching and motivating people for education in rural areas. The workers were engaged in the name of Shiksha Karmis to address the problem of teacher absenteeism, poor enrolment, high dropout trends and inadequate access to education. The workers were to get only a fixed honorarium. The projects were introduced to accelerate universalization of elementary education. After the passage of the 83rd Constitutional Amendment and the setting up of an elected Panchayat structure, the project worked in tandem with the elected representative memb