SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

2023 Supreme(Raj) 1838

IN THE HIGH COURT OF RAJASTHAN AT JAIPUR BENCH
Anoop Kumar Dhand, J.
Savita - Petitioner
Versus
Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board through its Chairman and Others - Respondents
S.B. Civil S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 14864 of 2015
Decided On : 27-04-2023

Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Shobhit Tiwari Mr. Pushpendra Singh Tanwar Mr. Rohit Tiwari.
For the Respondent: Mr. Akhil Simlote Mr. Dikshant Jain Mr. Ashvini Raj Tanwar Mr. Sandeep Singh Shekhawat Mr. Rajendra Prasad Sharma with Ms. Sanju saini Mr. Abhimanyu Singh.

Headnote:(A) Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board Employees Service Rules and Regulations 1993 - Promotion requirements - Five years experience for Degree holders in post eligibility - Petitioner's promotion denied due to lack of requisite experience, despite requests for relaxation. (Paras 1, 3, 4, 10)

(B) Administrative Efficiency - Requirement of experience directly linked to quality and efficiency in service delivery - Relaxation in criteria not applicable as per established rules. (Paras 12, 13)

Facts of the case:
Petitioner challenged promotion denial despite being appointed post litigation; claimed experience credit based on delays caused by judicial process.

Findings of Court:
Petitioner lacked necessary experience; previous rulings did not support her claim for promotion benefits.

Issues: Entitlement to promotion based on experience despite appointment delays and relaxation of rules.

Ratio Decidendi: Experience is a mandatory condition for promotion; absence of required experience at the time of consideration justified denial of promotion.

Result: Petition dismissed.

Table of Content
1. promotion requirements under rules of 1993 (Para 1)
2. legal challenge regarding promotion eligibility (Para 2 , 3)
3. petitioner's specific legal requests (Para 4)
4. petitioner's argument on notional experience (Para 5)
5. respondents' defense on experience requirement (Para 6 , 7)
6. court's analysis of prior litigation and experience (Para 8 , 9 , 10)
7. clarification on relaxation of promotion rules (Para 11 , 12)
8. court's rationale on experience as a criterion for promotion (Para 13 , 14 , 15)
9. conclusion dismissing the petition (Para 16 , 17 , 18)

JUDGMENT :

Anoop Kumar Dhand, J.

As per Schedule-I attached to the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board Employees Service Rules and Regulations 1993 (for short 'Rules of 1993"), for getting promotion to the post of Assistant Environmental Engineer from the post of Junior Environmental Engineer, Five years service for Degree holders and Ten years service for Diploma holders, is necessary.

2. Now, the issue before this court is "whether a candidate not having Five years experience on the post of Junior Environmental Engineer is entitled to get promotion on the post of Assistant Environmental Engineer merely because his/her appointment was delayed by the recruitment authority?"

3. Background of this case is that pursuant to advertisement no. 3/2010, the petitioner submitted online application for participation in the process of selection on the post of Junior Environmental Engineer, but due to technical error her application was accepted for the post of Junior Scientific Officer. When her request for correction was not accepted, she approached this court by way of filing S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 12391/2010 and on 9.9.2010, while passing an interim order, she was allowed to participate in written examination for the post of Junior Environmental Engineer and the respondents were directed to keep her result in a sealed cover, and accordingly she appeared in the written examination and finally her petition was allowed vide order dated 12.7.2011 and the respondents were directed to declare her result and consider her case for appointment on the post of Junior Environmental Engineer. The above order was unsuccessfully challenged by the respondents before the Division Bench and before the Hon'ble Apex Court and the appeals were dismissed on 26.7.2012 and 23.11.2012 respectively, and finally appointment was given to the petitioner vide order dated 10.12.2012 and on the basis of her merit, she was placed at serial number 6 in the seniority list prepared by the respondents for departmental promotion to the post of Assistant Environmental Engineer for the year 2015-16. Since the petitioner was not having requisite experience of Five years on the post of Junior Engineer, hence Departmental Promotion Committee (for short "DPC") did not consider her case for promotion. Due to lack of requisite experience of Five years, many posts remained vacant, hence the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (for short "RSPC Board") requested the State Government to grant relaxation in experience to fill the vacant promotion posts, and accordingly a decision was taken by the State to relax the Rules and relaxation of one-third (1/3) period was given for promotion to the post of Assistant Environmental Engineer. In spite of grant of one-third period relaxation, the petitioner was lacking two-third experience, hence her case was not considered for promotion.

4. Under these circumstances, the petitioner has knocked the doors of this court by way of filing this petition with the following prayer:-

    "It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this writ petition may kindly be allowed and :-

    a) Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction, whereby impugned promotion order dated 21.7.2015 be quashed and set aside and petitioner be given promotion on the post of Assistant Environmental Engineer against the vacancies of the year 2014-15 with all consequential benefits.

    b) Issue an appropriate writ,

Click Here to Read the rest of this document
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon Back to top