Kewal Kumar And Others vs State Of J&K And Others on 6 February, 2023

[Cites 1, Cited by 2]

Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Kewal Kumar And Others vs State Of J&K And Others on 6 February, 2023

Bench: Sanjeev Kumar

                                                                         Sr. No.39




          HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH
                          AT JAMMU

                                                SWP No.108/2019
                                                [WP(C) No.216/2019]

Kewal Kumar and others                                .....Appellant(s)/Petitioner(s)

                      Through: M/s Sayeed Nadeem Hamdani & Mohd.
                               Tabasam Amin Khan, Advocates

                 Vs

State of J&K and others                                          ..... Respondent(s)

                      Through: Mr. Raman Sharma, AAG
                               Mr. Suraj Singh, GA

Coram: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV KUMAR, JUDGE

                                     ORDER

In this petition, the petitioners have called in question the Government Order No.919-Edu of 2018 dated 16.11.2018, whereby Rehbar-e-Taleem Scheme for engagement/appointment of persons as Rehbar-e-Taleem in various government schools was formally closed. A Division Bench of this Court has already decided the issue with regard to the validity of the impugned Government Order in SWP No.3004/2018 titled Ruksana Jabeen v. State of J&K and others and other clubbed matters vide judgment dated 04.02.2023.

The Division has upheld the constitutional validity of the impugned Government Order No.919-Edu of 2018 and has also issued certain directions with regard to the impact of the Government order on pending and decided litigation(s). Conclusions in this regard are drawn in paragraph No.31 of the judgment, which, for facility of reference is reproduced hereunder:-

"31. We have heard both the sides at some length on the impact of the Government order on the pending litigation and we cull out our conclusion as under:

(i). That the impugned Government order will not affect the select panels prepared by the respondents which have been acted upon and formal orders of engagement have been issued;

(ii) That the impugned Government Order will not override or effect the judgments passed or to be passed by this Court holding a candidate/candidates entitled to engagement in the selection process which was/is under challenge before the Court;

(iii) Where the select panels are approved and the aggrieved party has approached the Court before it could be acted upon, shall also be not affected by the impugned Government order, in that,but for litigation in the Court, the approved panel/panels could have been acted upon and formal letters of engagement in favour of the selected candidates issued prior to the issuance of the impugned Government order; and,

(iv) Notwithstanding issuance of the impugned Government order, the respondents shall abide by the judgments passed by any competent Court of law which have attained finality. However, the writ petitions involving adjudication of disputes in respect of tentative merit lists or tentative select panels shall be liable to be dismissed in view of the impugned Government order, in that, it would not be permissible for a Court of law to direct the respondents to finalize the tentative merit lists or tentative select panels and issue engagement orders in view of closure of the scheme and a clear stipulation contained in paragraph 2nd of the impugned Government order."

In view of the above, this petition insofar as it challenges constitutionality of the impugned Government Order is concerned, fails and same is disposed of by providing that the impugned Government Order shall be understood and made applicable in the manner explained by the Division Bench in the supra judgment.

(SANJEEV KUMAR ) JUDGE Jammu 06.02.2023 Vinod.

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