Central Administrative Tribunal Principal Bench, New Delhi Order reserved on: 10.11.2025 Order pronounced on: 10.12.2025 Hon’ble Mr. Manish Garg, Member (J)

Hon’ble Dr. Chhabilendra Roul, Member (A)

Amit Malik Aged about 35 years, S/o Fateh Singh Malik, R/o 18A/9, Shastri Nagar, Sarkari Hospital Ka Samane, Ganaur, Sonipat, Haryana-131101.

....Applicant (By Advocate: Mr. Pawan Reley with Mr. Akshay Lodhi, Ms. Simran Singh, Mr. Manish Dahiya and Ms. Vaishali Pandey)

Versus

1. Government of NCT of Delhi Through Special Secretary (Services), Services Department, Delhi Secretariat Complex, 5th Level, B-Wing & 5th Level, A-Wing, I.P.Estate, New Delhi-110002. 2. Directorate of Education, Through Section Officer, Direct Recruitment Cell (E-IV), Conference Hall, Old Secretariat, Civil Lines, Near Vidhan Sabha, New Delhi, Delhi-110054.

... Respondents (By Advocate: Mr. Girish C. Jha)

ORDER By Dr. Chhabilendra Roul, Member (A)

The present OA has been filed by the applicant under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 seeking the following relief:

“(a) Issue an appropriate order or direction to strike down Rule 2(III) of the Office Memorandum No. F.19(11)/2015/S-IV/1751-1756 dated 11.06.2019 issued by the Government of NCT of Delhi (Annexure A-3) for arbitrarily refusing to grant age relaxation to the Applicant, thereby rendering it unconstitutional and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India;

(b) Issue an appropriate order or direction to set aside the ‘Order’ dated 25.10.2024 issued by the Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi, (Annexure A-11), and consequently direct the Respondents to grant age relaxation to the Applicant under Rule 2(I) of the Office Memorandum No.F.19(11)/2015/S-IV/1751-1756 dated 11.06.2019 issued by the Government of NCT of Delhi (Annexure A-3), as a ‘one-time measure’, and consider the Applicant for the appointment to the post of ‘Assistant Teacher (Primary)’ under the Directorate of Education;

(c) Pass any other order(s) or direction(s) that this Hon’ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the interest of justice.”

2. Factual Matrix:

2.1 The present applicant started working as a Guest Teacher with the Respondents (1&2) in the year 2013. Thereafter, the respondents appointed him as Guest Teacher from time to time continuously during each of the subsequent academic years till 2021, giving artificial break during the summer vacations in the months of May and June. On the direction of Respondent No.2, the school authorities discontinued the services of Guest Teachers with effect from 20.4.2021 on account of summer vacation. The Respondent No.2 issued a notification advertisement No. 02/21 inviting applications for various posts. The present applicant applied for the post of “Assistant Teacher (Primary)” bearing post code No. 42/21. In pursuance of the result notice dated 2.11.2022, the present applicant was offered appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher (Primary). However, Respondent no. 2 issued a deficiency Memo on 15.5.2023 stating that the present applicant was ineligible to the post of the said post because he was not covered under Clause 2(III) of Memo dated 11.6.2019 granting age relaxation to the contractual employees working with the Respondents. Being aggrieved, the applicant approached the Delhi High Court in WPC No. 1403/2024. The High Court vide order dated 7.10.2024 opined that the subject matter in the said position falls under the jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Tribunal. The said petition was allowed to be withdrawn with liberty to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal. Accordingly, the applicant has filed the present OA seeking the aforementioned relief.

3. Notices were issued to the respondents and they have filed their counter reply, to which the applicant has also filed his rejoinder.

4. Submission by the learned counsel for the Applicant

4.1 The learned counsel for the applicant referring to the pleadings in the OA, states that Clause 2(III) o