IMPORTANT POINT
Prior contractual service of employees must be counted for pension and leave entitlements, and imposing a new probation period after long service is unjust.

ORDER :

Farjand Ali, J.

1. The petitioners, who are working as Ayurved Chikitsak in the Department of Ayurved, Government of Rajasthan, or have retired from the said post during the pendency of the writ petition, have preferred this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India jointly as a common grievance has been raised herein. The petitioners have made the following prayers in the writ petition :-

"(i) by appropriate writ, order or direction the respondents may be directed to regularize the services of the petitioner from the date of initial appointment on the post of Ayurved Chikitsak and grant them regular scale of pay with all consequential benefits;

(ii) by appropriate writ, order or direction, the respondents may be directed to count services rendered by the petitioners from the date of initial selection (on contractual basis) towards probation with all consequential benefits including fixation of pay, confirmation, assured career progression etc.;

(iii) by appropriate writ, order or direction, in the alternative the respondents may be directed to count services of the petitioner on substantive basis from the date of their selection and regular appointment made in the year 2009 with all consequential benefits;

(iv) by appropriate writ, order or direction, the action of the respondents in paying fix salary during the period of probation be declared illegal and it may be declared that the petitioners are entitled to regular scale of pay during the period of probation;"

2. Succinctly stated, facts of the case necessary for adjudication of the instant case are that the respondents published advertisements dated 19.12.2001 and 06.10.2003 inviting applications for appointment on the post of Ayurved Chikitsak on contract. On both occasions, the select lists were prepared on the basis of merit as per the criteria determined by the Department of Ayurved, Government of Rajasthan and the same were issued on 14.02.2002, 09.02.2004 and 11.11.2004. Pursuant to the aforesaid select lists, the petitioners were granted appointment on contract basis on consolidated remuneration and they started working as such.

3. In the year 2008, the respondents framed the Rajasthan Rural Ayurvedic, Unani, Homeopathy and Naturopathy Service Rules, 2008 (for short, hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules of 2008'). Under the Rules of 2008, a separate wings of Ayurved, Unani, Homeopathy and Naturopathy services were constituted. The Rules of 2008 provided for initial recruitment, direct recruitment and promotion. The intitial recruitment was provided to take care of all those Ayurved Chikitsak, who were working on contractual basis. Pursuant to the Rules of 2008, an advertisement dated 21.07.2008 was issued inviting applications to fill up 320 posts of Ayurved Chikitsak. The petitioners, who were working on contractual basis submitted their applications for selection to the post of Ayurved Chikitsak and after being subjected to selection process, their names found place in the select list and they were given appointment to the post of Ayurved Chikitsak on substantive basis vide order dated 02.06.2009.

4. A bunch of writ petitions came to be filed before this court at Jaipur Bench led by S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.5259/2009 challenging the selection process undertaken by respondents in pursuance of the advertisement dated 21.07.2008 on the ground that no criteria of selection was prescribed for determination of merit. The Single Bench allowed the said writ petitions vide order dated 29.04.2011 and held that the selection and appointments made by the respondents pursuant to the advertisement dated 21.07.2008 were illegal and they were directed to hold fresh selection process after determining the criteria for selection. However, looking to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and to avoid sufferance of the public at large in rural areas in absence of Ayurved Chikitsak, it was directed that till process of selection as per the Rules of 20