Point of Law: It has been consistently opined that in case a candidate is wrongly denied appointment for no fault on his part, he cannot be denied appointment from due date and consequential seniority.

ORDER :

1. The petitioner seeks direction to the respondents (i) to treat him as notionally appointed Junior Basic Teacher (in short ‘JBT’) on contract basis in District Kinnaur, H.P. at par with the other candidates, who were appointed in District Kinnaur in February/March 2014 on the basis of counselling held on 14.02.2014 and (ii) consequently to consider him for regularization at par with other candidates so appointed on contract basis and regularized vide order dated 26.05.2017.

2. The pleaded factual matrix of the case is that:

(i) Respondent No. 2, on 12.09.2012, issued orders to fill up 1308 posts of JBT in the State. Out of these 1308 posts, 20 were allotted to District Kinnaur. The process to fill up the posts of JBT was started in some districts, but had to be stopped thereafter due to stay imposed by this Court on making appointments. CWP No. 784 of 2014 was filed in this Court, challenging the conditions imposed by the State in the advertisement to the effect that only those registered in the employment exchanges within the concerned districts, shall be eligible to apply. Subsequently, vide order dated 28.01.2014, passed in CWP No. 784 of 2014, the respondents were directed to allow the petitioners (therein) to participate in the selection process, however, their result was not to be declared, but was to be produced in the Court in sealed cover.

(ii) Pursuant to the above order, counselling was conducted for the posts of JBT in District Kinnaur on 17.02.2014. The petitioner (herein) was also allowed to participate in the counselling. The candidates, who were registered in the Employment Exchange at Kinnaur and had participated in the counseling on 17.02.2014, were appointed as JBT on 26.02.2014. They joined on different dates ranging from 26.02.2014 to 03.03.2014.

(iii) Shri Sarvinder, Rohit Kumar and Vijay Amrit Raj were also registered in the Employment Exchange Kinnaur. These three persons had also participated in the counselling held on 17.02.2014 alongwith the petitioner, but were not offered appointment. These three persons filed writ petitions No. CWP Nos. 2421 and 2422 of 2014, seeking notional appointments and seniority as JBT alongwith other candidates, who were appointed on 26.02.2014. Shri Sarvinder and Rohit Kumar (petitioners in CWP No. 2421) were appointed during the pendency of the writ petition as JBT and they joined on 27.08.2014 in District Kinnaur. Sh. Vijay Amrit Raj was appointed on 06.01.2015.

(iv) CWP No. 784 of 2014 and other similar writ petitions were decided by the erstwhile H.P. Administrative Tribunal (in short ‘Tribunal’) vide order dated 02.11.2016. The respondents (therein) were directed to consider all the candidates on their own merit irrespective of the fact whether they were registered in the employment exchange of the concerned district or had applied directly pursuant to the advertisement and in case they were successful, to offer them appointments in accordance with law. As a result of implementation of this order, the petitioner was appointed as JBT on 04.02.2017.

(v) Shri Sarvinder, Rohit Kumar and Vijay Amrit Raj, who had also participated in the same counselling, in which the petitioner had participated on 17.02.2014, represented to the respondents seeking their regularization as JBT on the basis of their notional dates of appointments as JBT i.e. 26.02.2014. The petitioner alongwith these three candidates submitted representation on 27.08.2017, seeking regularization. The above named three candidates were regularized alongwith other appointees in District Kinnaur w.e.f. 26.05.2017. The petitioner was eventually regularized vide order dated 16.05.2020. It is in the above background, that he had preferred the instant writ petition, seeking following main relief:

“(i) That the respondents department may kindly be directed to treat the petitioner as having been notionally appointed as JBT teacher on contract basis in District Kinnaur at par with other candidates, who were appointed