JUDGMENT

Satish Chandra Sharma, C.J. The facts of the case reveal that the underlying Writ Petition was preferred by Respondent Nos. 1 & 2 in LPA 253/2021, being aggrieved by the appointment of the present Appellants to the post of Assistant Director (Technical) in the service of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (hereinafter to be referred as `FSSAI').

2. The Respondent Nos. 1 & 2/writ petitioners made a prayer for quashment of appointments of candidates appointed illegally to the post of Assistant Director (Technical) published vide Result Notice dated 24.12.2020.

3. The undisputed facts of the case reveal that the Appellants herein were contractual employees working as Technical Officers at Pay Level-7 and Pay Level-8 in the service of FSSAI.

4. An advertisement was issued on 26.03.2019 by the FSSAI inviting applications for the post of Assistant Director (Technical), Technical Officer and other posts.

5. The Respondent Nos. 1 & 2 applied for the posts advertised along with other persons pursuant to the advertisement and as per the recruitment rules and the terms and conditions of the advertisement, for appointment to the post of Assistant Director (Technical), a candidate was required to have total 5 years of experience out of which 2 years was mandatorily in immediate lower Pay Level in Central Dearness Allowance or equivalent Industrial Dearness Allowance Scale.

6. The process of selection took place and the contention of the Respondent Nos. 1 & 2 in the Writ Petition was that in spite of them being qualified for the post in question, they have not been appointed to the said post, on the contrary, employees who were in Pay Level-7 working on contractual basis have been issued appointments. It was argued before this Court that the contractual employees, who were backdoor entrants have been favoured by the appointing authority by appointing them to the post of Assistant Director (Technical) and theier services were regularized de-hors the recruitment rules by giving them direct appointment ignoring the dictum laid down in the case of Secretary, State of Karnataka & Others Vs. Umadevi & Others, AIR 2006 SC 1806: (2006) 4 SCC 1.

7. The Learned Single Judge has allowed the Writ Petition and has set aside the appointment order of the Appellants herein who were contractual employees and who have been appointed by way of direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Director (Technical).

8. The order dated 04.08.2021 passed by the Learned Single Judge allowing the Writ Petition as contained in Para Nos. 20 to 32 is reproduced as under:

"20. That apart, learned counsel for the parties have also relied upon the point V and VI, of the Recruitment Advertisement Notice No.DR-02/2019 dated March 26, 2019 published by respondent No.1, which are reproduced as under:

"V. The contractual employees of FSSAI who are being given consolidated pay aligned with government pay structure are allowed to apply for the similar post or one higher post subject to the other conditions of eligibility prescribed in the direct recruitment advertisement. In case of contractual employees from other Govt. bodies, the applicant will have to submit whenever required to do so a certificate from their present employer stating that their consolidated pay is aligned with the particular government scale in their department. VI. All persons on contract in the services of the Authority on the date of notification of the Recruitment Regulations shall be eligible for weightage in selection process. The weightage shall be given on two parameters viz. number of years of service rendered in the Authority (30% weightage) plus Performance Appraisal (70% weightage). The performance appraisal shall be done by a committee nominated by Appointing Authority. The weightage as above shall be added at the first level of selection as applicable to each post and the total combined weightage on account of both parameters (i.e. no. of years of relevant experience plus