Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
M.R. Shahi vs The State Of Rajasthan And Ors. on 2 September, 1975
Equivalent citations: 1975WLN(UC)373
JUDGMENT D.P. Gupta, J.
1. The facts of this case lie in a harrow compass. The petitioner in this case Shri Shahi studied at the Delhi Polytechnic and passed the National Certificate Examination in Electrical Engineering held by the All India Council for Technical Education in October, 1959. The petitioner's case is that the National Certificate in Electrical Engineering obtained by Him is equivalent to Diploma in Engineering and is recognized as such. The petitioner was thereafter appointed by the order dated March 1, 1960 as Electrical Overseer in the Public. Works Department (Building & Roads) of the Government of Rajasthan (herein after referred to as the P.W. D'), in the grade of Rs. 90--300 He was given a higher start of Rs. 115/- on the aforesaid post by the order of the Super intending Engineer, P.W.D. dated, September 12 1960, as be was considered as a Diploma holder, The petitioner continued to hold the post of Electrical Overseer until by the order of the Chief Engineer, P.W.D dated December 18, 1974 he was appointed as an Engineering Subordinate (Electrical) on the basis of the recommendation of the Screening, Committee constituted under Rule 4 of the Rajasthan Engineering Subordinate Service (B & R Branch) Rules, 1973.
2. The respondent No. 3, Shri Soni studied at the Government polytechnic, Dehradun for a period of two years and passed the examination of Electrical Supervisor, conducted by the Director of Industries, U.P in the year 1959. Soni was selected by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'the Commission') for the post of an Overseer, & he was appointed as a temporary Overseer with effect from September 25, 1959 He was later on confirmed on the post of Engineering Subordinate by the order of the Chief Engineer, P.W.D, Rajasthan dated September 29. 1970 with effect from January 1, 1961. By the order dated November 29, 1969 Soni was promoted as Assistant Engineer in a temporary capacity with effect from September 27, 1969. He was thereafter selected by the Departmental Promotion Committee for the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) and was appointed on the aforesaid post on one year's probation, by the order of the State Government dated December 24, 1973 Subsequently Soni was also confirmed on the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) by the order of the State Government dated August 20, 1974 with effect from June 24, 1874.
3. The contention of the learned Counsel for the petitioner is two fold In the first place, learned Counsel argued that Soni was not a diploma holder & was, therefore, not eligible for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) in the year 1969, as he did not then possess 15 years' experience as an Engineering Subordinate (Electrical) and as such his promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer was illegal and void The second contention of the learned Counsel is that the State Government did not recognise the Certificate obtained by Soni from the Dehradun Polytechnic as equivalent to a Diploma from a recognised institution.
4. The contention of the respondents is that Soni was holding a Diploma in Engineering (Electrical) and as such he only required ten years' experience as Engineering Subordinate for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer end that as Soni possessed the requisite ten years' experience on November 29, 1969 when he was temporarily promoted on the post of Assistant Engineer, his promotion to the aforesaid post was valid. They also assert that the Diploma held by Soni was duly recognized by the Government of Rajasthan.
5. As a matter of fact, the first submission of the learned Counsel depends upon the validity of his second submission. If the Diploma possessed by Soni was duly recognized by the State Government then there is no dispute between the parties that such a Diploma holder only required ten years' experience as Engineering Subordinate for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical). Schedule I annexed to the Rajasthan Service of Engineers (B & R) Rules, 1954 (as amended) prescribes the qualifications and experience requisite for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) as under:
Post Method of Post from Qualification Qualification REMARKS
recruitment which selec- and experience and experience
S. with tion is to for promotion for direct
No. percentage made recruitment
1 2 3 4 5 6
2 Assistant 75% Engineering B.E. (Electrical Must
Engineer direct Subordinate qualification hold a
(Electrical) recruit (Electrical) declared equ va degree in
ment Government with shed by law
& 25% with 3 years' in India or
by pro service as Engin- a degree or
motion eering Subordinate diploma of a
(Electrical) or if foreign
Diploma-holder University or
(Electrical) from institution
a recognised insti- declared by
tution with 10 years Govt.- to be
requisite experience equivalent to
as Engineering degree in
Subordinates (Elec.) Electrical
or others with 15 Engineering of
years' requisite a University
experience as established by
Engineering Sub- law in India.
ordinates (Elect-
rical)
6 It is not in dispute that Soni was appointed as Engineering Subordinate on September 25, 1959 and he was promoted as Assistant Engineer in a temporary capacity with effect from September 27, 1969 and thus he no doubt possessed ten years' experience as an Engineering Subordinate (Electrical) on the date he was temporarily promoted as Assistant Engineer. The only question which, therefore, remains to be considered is as to whether Soni was a Diploma holder (Electrical) from a recognised institution.
7. The respondent State has produced a document Annexure- 'F' dated March 30, 1970 by which the State Government duly recognized the Diploma of Electric Supervisor awarded by the Director of Industries, U.P. on the ground that the Authority which conducted the examination and was then designated as the Director of Industries, U.P. was now renamed as the Director of Board of Technical Education U.P and as the State Government had recognized by an earlier order dated November 17, 1962 the Diplomas owarded by all the State Board of Technical Education for the purpose of appointment to subordinate posts. Learned Counsel for the petitioner contends that Soni did not possess a Diploma awarded by the Board of Technical Education of a State and, therefore, the Diploma possessed by him could not have been recognized by the State Government, in accordance with the provisions of its earlier order dated November 17, 1962 Although the Diploma held by Soni was not awarded by a State Board of Technical Education, but as explained by the State Government in Annexure 'F' dated March 30, 1970 the Diploma awarded by the Director of. Industries, U.P. in the year 1959 was of the same value as that given by any State Board of Technical Education, in view of the fact that the Director of Industries, U.P. who had given the aforesaid Diploma was later designated as Director of the Board of Technical Education U.P. In any view of the matter, the State Government was the competent Authority empowered to recognize. a Diploma for the purpose of qualifications prescribed in Schedule I annexed to the aforesaid Rules and by the order Annexure-'F' the State Government clearly recognized the Diploma possessed by Soni, who had attended a course of instructions at the Government Polytechnic, Dehradun prior to his obtaining the Diploma of Electrical Supervisor in the year 1959 In these circumstances, it must be held that Soni possessed the requisite qualifications for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer, as he was holding a Diploma from a recognized institution of Electrical Engineering and had also ten years' experience on the post of Engineering Subordinate. His promotion in a temporary capacity, to the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) with effect from September 27, 1969 was, therefore, perfectly valid.
8 In view of the aforesaid discussion, there is no merit in the writ petition and the same is dismissed. The respondent Soni will get his costs from the petitioner.