IMPORTANT POINT
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the denial of deemed regular appointment to the petitioners, as Trained Graduate Teachers, from the date of their initial appointment on a contractual basis, was held to be violative of Articles 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India.

JUDGMENT :

Ranjan Sharma, J.

Notice. Mr. Rajan Kahol, learned Additional Advocate General, appears and waives service of notice on behalf of the respondents.

2. With the consent of the parties, the instant writ petition is taken up for disposal, at this stage, in view of the peculiar facts ad the order intended to be passed herein below.

3. The petitioner, initially appointed as Trained Graduate Teacher (Medical) has filed the instant writ petition with the following prayer(s):-

“(i) That act of the respondent in not counting the services rendered by the petitioner on contract basis as TGT (Medical) for the purpose of regularization alongwith all consequential benefits may kindly be held unconstitutional, discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable, unjustified, unwarranted, invalid, violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and contrary to the law laid down by this Hon’ble Court vide judgment dated 02.05.2012 in CWP No. 7602 of 2010 (Annexure P-3).

(ii) That the respondent may kindly be directed to regularize the service of the petitioner, from the initial service of petitioner on contract basis along with all consequential benefits being a covered matter by the law laid down by this Hon’ble Court vide judgment dated 02.05.2012 in CWP No. 7602 of 2010 (Annexure P-3) whereby the service rendered by the employees concerned on contract basis has been ordered to be regularized along with all consequential benefits.”

4. In the background, of the reliefs prayed for above, the brief facts and that the respondents commenced the selection process for appointment to the post of Trained Graduate Teachers [Arts/Medical/Non Medical] in 2008-2009, on contract basis, on Batch wise Basis, in the Department of Education, of the State Government in accordance with the Himachal Pradesh Education Department, Class-III (School and Inspection Cadre) Services Rules, 1973 but, instead of appointing them on regular basis as Trained Graduate Teachers [Arts/Medical/Non Medical] they were appointed on contractual basis in 2008-2009. The petitioner(s) continued as such and they were regularized in the year 2016.

5. Now, the only grievance of the petitioner(s) is that though as per the Himachal Pradesh, Education Department Class-III [School and Inspection Cadre] Service Rules, 1973, the petitioner(s) had undergone selection for appointment as TGT [Arts/Medical/ Non Medical] in 2008-2009, on regular basis but, were wrongly and illegally appointed on contract basis when, contractual mode-nomenclature of appointment was introduced in Himachal Pradesh Elementary Education Department, [Class-III] [Non Gazetted], Recruitment and Promotion Rules on 22.10.2009 and once these Rules of 2009 were only prospective in nature then, the petitioner(s) could not have been appointed on contract basis, meaning thereby, that the petitioners had a right to be appointed on regular basis from the date of initial appointment.

In this background, the action of the respondents in denying the “deemed regular appointment” to the petitioner(s), as TGTs [Arts/Medical/Non Medical] in 2008-2009 from the date they were appointed as such on contract basis [prior to insertion of contractual mode-nomenclature of appointment in the Recruitment and Promotion Rules for Trained Graduate Teachers on 22.10.2009]; has resulted in depriving the petitioners of the regular status, regular pay scale, pay fixation in regular pay scale, benefit of ACP from such deemed regular date, higher pay in revised pay scales w.e.f. 01.01.2016 and higher pay till day is a recurring loss till day. Even this action, has resulted in depriving the petitioners of the pension on superannuation which is violative of Articles 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India.

6. The question, as to whether the incumbents who had undergone selection for the post of Trained Graduate Teachers or for the post of Lecturers (School Cadre) under the Himachal Pradesh Education Department Class-III, (School and Inspection Cadre) Service