An appointment made in violation of the mandatory provisions of the recruitment rules and Article 16 of the Constitution of India is a nullity and can be canceled by the State.

S. B. Sinha, S. Hoda, JJ.

1. In this application the petitioner has prayed for issuance of an order dated 4th December, 1991 whereby his appointment along with other persons, has been cancelled with immediate effect on the ground that the same was illegal Allegedly applications were called for appointment of class III and class IV posts on purely temporary basis. The petitioner applied for appointment in pursuance of the aforementioned advertisement He was thereafter asked to appear before the selection committee. Whereafter the petitioners name was recommended and by an order dated 9th December, 1989 he was appointed on provisional basis in class III in the post of clerk in project Girls High Schools, Sanjhauli in the district of Rohtas, Sasaram.

2. The petitioner was asked to show cause by a letter dated 27th september, 1991 as to why appointment of the petitioner by the District education Officer should not be held to be illegal on the following grounds :

" (a) That the appointment of the petitioner was not made against the post of clerk in terms of the guidelines of the personnel and Administrative Reforms Department of the State of bihar, without any advertisement in the newspaper. (b) That such appointment was made without calling for names from the Employment Exchange ; and (c) That the appointment of the petitioner has been made not through the District Standard Sub-Committee as has been laid down by the Education Department of the State of Bihar. "

3. The said show cause notice is contained in Annexure 4 to the writ application.

4. The petitioner filed a show cause alleging inter alia therein that his appointment was made after a notice was published in the notice board and he was interviewed by a Selection Committee.

5. By reason of the impugned order dated 28th November, 1991, the Headmistress of the different project Girls High School including the project Girls High School. Sahjhauli, Rohtas were directed to stop payment of salary in respect of class III and IV employees. The said order is contained in Annexure 6 to the writ application.

6. Thereafter by reason of the impugned order dated 4-12-1991 as contained in Annexure 1 to the writ application the said appointments were cancelled. The said order was passed on the following grounds as stated in paragraph 17 of the writ petition -

" (i) That by letter No.19372 dated 27th July, 1981, for different high Schools, a Committee was constituted in which in addition to the District Education Officer, one Member must should have been, (sic) who should have been nominated by the district Welfare Officer and District Education Officer, but in none of the appointment, the District Welfare officers nominee was made a Member. (ii) That in terms of the Government letter No.16441 dated 3rd december, 1980, names should have been called for from the employment Exchange and advertisement should have been made for appointment and for class IV appointments (to which the petitioner is not concerned names should have been called for from the Collectorate from the District Level panel, which was not followed. (iii) That the advertisement/notice which was published by the district Education Officer, Rohtas, does not bear Memo No. or date which bears only the signature of the Sub-divisional education Officer, Sasaram, North. (iv) That in the matter of appointment, Government circulars and directions relating to reservation has not been followed. (v) That the applications, which are available of different candidates, in none of the applications it has been mentioned relating to the date of interview dated 20th September, 1988. (vi) That the register relating to interview, in which the seriatum of the candidates have been shown and the Assistant has given his remarks, the position of candidates at the time of interview has not been mentioned, nor the District Education Officer has made comment relating to their opinion in the said Register. (vii) That the register in which the mer