2015 Supreme(Raj) 369
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR
SANDEEP MEHTA, J.
Mamta Gawan - Petitioner
Vs.
State & Anr. - Respondents
S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NOS. 5010/2015, 5011/2015, 4367/2015, 4368/2015, 4369/2015, 4370/2015, 4371/2015, 4406/2015, 4424/2015 & 9660/2014
Decided On : 22nd May, 2015
Advocate Appeared:
Mr. R.S. Saluja, Mr. Jagdish Vyas & Mr. N.R. Budhania, for the petitioners.
Mr. P.R. Singh, AAG with Mr. Dinesh Ojha, Mr. Rajesh Panwar, AAG and Mr. Sumer Singh, for the respondents.
Headnote:
Constitution of India , 1950 - Article 226, 142 - Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 - Sections 2(10) and 2(19) - Cancel their appointments - Consequential termination order - Challenged - Petitioners have set up a case that by time advertisement came to be issued they had commenced their final year academic session of B.E./B.Tech Civil Engineering Course in their respective universities/colleges and thus were to appear in final year exam as mentioned in above quoted clause of advertisement - Two kinds of academic sessions are run by different universities and colleges annual system and semester system - Case as set up by petitioners is that normally throughout country academic sessions of engineering courses commence in and culminate somewhere in or - Date of examination as mentioned in advertisement was originally but was postponed and petitioners were issued call letters for appearing in written examination to be conducted at on Petitioners appeared in written examination and after evaluation of answer sheets all petitioners were declared successful and stood high in merit - It is claimed that as petitioners secured much above cut off marks and as they held requisite qualification - Learned counsel representing petitioners vehemently contended that petitioners endeavour in applying for advertised posts and appearing in competitive examination was perfectly bonafide because they were to appear in final year examination as mentioned in advertisement – Held, Court shall now consider question whether despite reversal of order passed by learned single Judge by Division Bench of the High Court petitioners can continue in service Submission of learned counsel that this Court should invoke Article 142 of Constitution and direct competent authority to allow petitioners to continue in service because they have already completed more than years service sounds attractive but lacks merit - In result special leave petitions are dismissed – However keeping in view statement of learned senior counsel appearing for petitioners that Commission has not completed process of selection for fresh recruitment of Motor Vehicle Sub-Inspectors Court direct Commission to do needful within a period of next months - Till then petitioners shall be allowed to continue in service - Above discussion there is no merit in writ petitions and same are hereby dismissed – Petition Dismissed.
Since all these writ petitions involve a common controversy and are all preferred challenging the legality of a common show cause notice dated 17.4.2015 served on the petitioners proposing to cancel their appointments and the consequential termination order dated 8.5.2015 in S.B.Civil Writ Petition No. 5010/2015 (Mamta Gawan Vs. State & Anr.) and 5011/2015 (Manju Bala Vs. State & Anr.) from the civil posts of J.En. allegedly without following the procedure prescribed under law thus, are being decided by this common order.
Succinctly stated the facts relevant and necessary for the disposal of these writ petitions are noted herein-below:-
Respondent no. 2 Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Indira Gandhi Nahar Mandal (Building), Jaipur, Rajasthan issued an advertisement dated 11.9.2013 for recruitment on 244 posts of Junior Engineers Degree (Civil). The relevant clause of the advertisement which is the bone of contention in this cluster of writ petitions is reproduced herein-below for the sake of ready reference:-
^^mijksDr ;ksX;rk ds ikB~;Øe dh vfUre o”kZ dh ijh{kk] tks lh/kh HkrhZ ds fy, fu;ekas ;k vuqlwph esa ;Fkk mYysf[kr in ds fy, visf{kr ‘kS{kf.kd vgrkZ gS] esa lfEefyr gqvk ;k lfEefyr gksus okyk O;fDr in ds fy, vkosnu djus ds fy, ik= gksxk fdUrq mls foHkkx }kjk p;u gsrq ijh{kk dh fnukad 10-11-2013 rd visf{kr ‘kS{kf.kd vgrkZ vftZr djus dk lcwr nsuk gksxkA**
The petitioners have set up a case that by the time the advertisement came to be issued, they had commenced their final year academic session of B.E./B.Tech Civil Engineering Course in their respective universities/colleges and thus were to appear in the final year exam as mentioned in the above quoted clause of the advertisement. Two kinds of academic sessions are run by different universities and colleges; annual system and semester system. The case as set up by the petitioners is that normally, throughout the country, the academic sessions of engineering courses commence in July and culminate somewhere in April or May. The final results are declared around the months of July-August in any of the above academic systems. The petitioners further claim that, taking cue from the above quoted clause of the advertisement and as all of them were to appear in the final examination of the qualifying degree course, a bonafide and genuine belief was created in their minds that they were covered by the above mentioned clause of the advertisement and were entitled to apply in the selection process. Accordingly, they applied for the competitive examination to be held for the posts of J.En. advertised vide the advertisement dated 11.9.2013. While filling up the application forms, as directed in the advertisement, the petitioners herein mentioned “APP (applied)” in the relevant column of the form. The date of examination as mentioned in the advertisement was originally 10.11.2013 but was postponed and the petitioners were issued call letters for appearing in the written examination to be conducted at Jaipur on 12.1.2014. The petitioners appeared in the written examination and after evaluation of the answer sheets, all the petitioners were declared successful and stood high in the merit. It is claimed that as the petitioners secured much above the cut off marks and as they held the requisite qualification, appointment orders dated 11.8.2014 were issued offering appointment to the petitioners on the posts of J.En. on probation basis for a period of two years and directing them to join at different places in the Divisions/Sub Divisions of the Water Resources Department of the State of Rajasthan. They were also directed to have their testimonials checked and verified by the reporting officer at the time of joining. The petitioners claim that they had acquired the qualification of B.E./B.Tech by the time of joining, as required under the advertisement, and thus they reported for joining with their testimonials including the final year marks-sheets. The reporting officers verifi