2006 Supreme(Raj) 2542
High Court Of Rajasthan
Judgename : Mohammad Rafiq
Santosh - Appellant
Versus
State of Rajasthan - Respondent
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 581 of 2005
Decided On : 11/20/2006
Important Points
Subject
Employment Law - Contractual Employment
Act Referred
Headnote
Regular Appointment - Female Health Worker - Rajasthan Medical & Health Subordinate Service Rules, 1965 - Rule 9, Rule 19, Part IV - The petitioners, Female Health Workers, sought regular and substantive appointment. The court considered the conditions of their appointment, the advertisement for new vacancies, and the nature of their duties to determine the regularity of their appointment. The court analyzed the provisions of the Rules of 1965 and the nature of their appointment to decide on the regularity of their employment.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioners, Female Health Workers, sought regular and substantive appointment. They were appointed on a temporary basis with a consolidated monthly salary. The government later advertised new vacancies for the same position on a regular basis. The petitioners challenged the validity of the new advertisement and sought regular appointment or increased salary.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the petitioners' appointment was made on a contract basis with a specified consolidated monthly salary. The court rejected the argument that the petitioners were compelled to accept the appointment and held that their appointment was time-specific and on a specified consolidated monthly salary. The court also rejected the argument based on the doctrine of legitimate expectation and discrimination in regard to lesser salary.
Issues: The issues involved the regularity of the petitioners' appointment, the validity of the new advertisement for vacancies, and the nature of their duties compared to regularly appointed candidates.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the appointment of the petitioners was made on a contract basis with a specified consolidated monthly salary, and the petitioners were aware of the nature of their employment when they accepted it. The court also found that the theory of legitimate expectation cannot be invoked by temporary, contractual, or casual employees to seek regular appointment.
Final Decision: The court dismissed the petitioners' claims for regular appointment or increased salary, citing the nature of their appointment and the lack of promise from the State to make them permanent in the post.
Mohammad Rafiq, J.-All the aforementioned writ petitions have been filed by as many as 224 petitioners who all are working on the post of Female Health Worker (for short Female Health Worker) Chief Medical and Health Officers of Districts of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore and Nagaur on payment of consolidated monthly salary. In all these writ petitions the petitioners have prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to treat their selection and appointment on the post of Female Health Worker as regular and substantive. In the alternative it has been prayed that the advertisement dated 012.2004 may be set aside and the respondents may be directed to first absorb the petitioner son the post of Female Health Worker and thereafter proceed to make recruitment pursuant to advertisement dated 012.2004 and in doing so, the respondents may fill up 50% of the post from amongst the petitioners and further award 25% bonus marks to the rest of the petitioners against remaining 50% posts. Since, common relief has been prayed for in all the writ petitions, arguments in all these cases were heard together and they are being decided by this common Judgment . For the purpose of convenience however facts of S.B.C. Writ Petition No. 697 of 2005 are being taken up to form basis for decision of all the writ petitions.
2. The petitioners who are all female candidates have passed the training course of Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery/Health Worker (Female). According to the them, they were required to execute a bond on a non judicial stamp of Rs. 5/-upon completion of their training course undertaking to apply for appointment to the Joint Director, Medical and Health Services of respective zones within one month of declaration of result of their training course and serve the government for a period not less than five years from the date of offer of appointment made by the government. In case of their refusal or failure to serve the government, they were required to repay whatever expenditure was incurred by the government on their training. Vacancies on the post of Female Health Worker are required to be determined every year as per Rule 9 of the Rajasthan Medical & Health Subordinate Service Rules, 1965 (for short "the Rules of 1965"). According to schedule appended to the said rules, source of recruitment for appointment on the post of Female Health Worker is 100% by direct recruitment and the qualification for such appointment is VIIIth standard with auxiliary nurse midwifery training/Female Health Worker course. Determination of vacancies is made with reference to the posts duly sanctioned by the Finance Department of the Government in the cadre strength under the said rules.
3. The Chief Medical and Health Officer, Barmer published an advertisement on 17.05.2000 inviting applications for appointment on 89 vacant posts of Female Health Worker on urgent temporary basis on a consolidated salary of Rs. 3,500/-per month. The said advertisement stated that the appointments were to be made for a period only upto 31.07.2000. Such similar advertisements were also issued in respect of other districts too. The petitioners being eligible, they duly applied in response to such advertisement. The application forms were scrutinized as per Rule 19 of the Rules of 1965. They were then subjected to an interview by a Selection Committee duly constituted by the respondents for the purpose. The petitioners were selected on the basis of the recommendation of the Selection Committee and accordingly their appointment orders were issued.
4. The case of the petitioners is that they were all having requisite qualifications and their appointment was made by duly advertising the vacancies after following the procedure meant for direct recruitment as contemplated by Part IV of the Rules of 1965. Even though, the appointment of the petitioners was made against duly sanctioned posts of Female Health Worker in the pay scale of Rs. 4,000-6,000/-, yet they were being pa