JUDGMENT :

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.V.ANJARIA)

A crisp question of law arises for consideration,- whether in the facts of the case, it was open for the employer to deviate from the eligibility prescribed in the Rules and accordingly in the advertisement, by treating the candidates possessing the qualification other than the prescribed, which was higher qualification, on the projected ground that the higher qualification held by the candidate could be presupposed taken as they having inclusively possessed the lower qualification, especially when the Rules do not so contemplate.

2. Preferred by the original petitioners, 10 in numbers, the present Letters Patent Appeals address challenge to judgment and order dated 20.03.2023 of learned Single Judge whereby the Special Civil Applications of the petitioners were dismissed. The appellants-petitioners wee denied the relief.

2.1 What was prayed by the appellants-petitioners in their Special Civil Application was to set aside the action on the part of the respondent authorities in deleting their names from the select list. They prayed to declare that the deletion was unauthorised and illegal. It was next prayed to direct the respondents to offer appointments to the petitioners as per their own merit in the respective categories on the post of Gram Sevak.

2.2 Additional prayer was made by amending the petition seeking to set aside the appointments of respondents no.3 to 111 made by the District Panchayat Service Selection Committee on the post of Gram Sevak and to appoint the petitioners to the said post after revising the final merit list produced by the respondent no.2 committee.

3. For recruiting Gram Sevaks, Class III, the advertisement came to be issued by the Panchayat in November 2016. Clause 3 of the advertisement mentioned the age criteria and the educational qualifications for the post.

3.1 In clause 3.1 of the advertisement, the education qualifications required were prescribed to be as under,

"A candidate shall possess-

(i) either two years or three years diploma in Agriculture or Bachelor in Rural Studies Obtained from any of the university established or incorporated by or under the central or state Act in India or any other educational institutions recognized as such or declared as Deemed university under section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956; (ii) the basic knowledge of computer applications as prescribed in the Gujarat Civil Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules,1967;

(iii) adequate knowledge of Gujarati or Hindi or both."

3.2 The aforesaid eligibility prescription mentioned in the advertisement was based on above Rule 3 of the Rules called Gram Sevak, Class- III in the Superior Panchayat Service Recruitment Rules, 2014, which was framed by the State Government in exercise of powers conferred by sections 227 read with section 274 of the GUJARAT PANCHAYATS ACT , 1993, for the purpose of regulating the post of Gram Sevak, Class-II.

3.3 Rule 3 of the said Rules, which reflected in the eligibility requirement, mentioned in the advertisement, reads as under,

"3. To be eligible for appointment by direct selection to the post mentioned in rule-2, a candidate shall-

(a) not be less than 18 years and not be more than 30 years of age:

Provided that the upper age limit may be relaxed in favour of a candidate who is already in the Gujarat Panchayat Service in accordance with the provisions of the Gujarat Panchayat Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1998:

Provided further that the upper age limit may also be relaxed in favour of a candidate who is already the service of the Government of Gujarat in accordance with the provisions of the Gujarat Civil Services Classification and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1967;

(b) possess -

(i) either two years of three years Diploma in Agriculture or Bachelor in Rural Studies obtained from any of the Universities established or incorporated by or under the Central or State Act in India or any other