Himachal Pradesh High Court
Ajay Sharma vs State Of Himachal Pradesh And Others on 17 August, 2020
Author: Sandeep Sharma
Bench: Sandeep Sharma
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA
CWPOA No. 4588 of 2019
Decided on: August 17, 2020
____________________________________________________________
.
Ajay Sharma ...Petitioner
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh and others ...Respondents
____________________________________________________________
Coram
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Sharma, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting1?
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For the petitioner: Ms. Sunita Sharma, Senior
Advocate.
For the respondents: Mr. Sudhir Bhatnagar, Additional
Advocate General, through video-
conferencing
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Sandeep Sharma, J. (Oral)
By way of present petition filed under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioner has prayed for the following main relief:
"i. That the respondents may very kindly be directed to consider the petitioner for granting employment on batch wise basis from the date of his juniors has been appointed w.e.f. 2012 i.e. from the date his junior has been appointed ignoring the factum is overage for job."
2. Facts of the case, as emerge from the record, are that the petitioner after having obtained diploma in Civil Engineering from the Board of Technical Education, Maharashtra, got his Whether reporters of the Local papers are allowed to see the judgment? .
::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2020 20:21:01 :::HCHP -2-name enrolled with the employment exchange, Bilaspur on 6.10.1993. Government of Himachal Pradesh framed .
Recruitment and Promotion Rules for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil), wherein specific quota was fixed for batch-wise appointment on contract basis. Name of the petitioner, who admittedly belongs to the batch of 1993, never came to be considered for appointment to the post of Junior Engineer on contract basis, as such, he applied for information under Right to Information Act from the office of Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department. Pursuant to aforesaid information sought by the petitioner, under Right to Information Act, he was informed by the Registrar, Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department, Shimla vide communication dated 6.9.2014 (Annexure P-3) as under:
"... as per record of this office the following batchwise appointments of JE (Civil) on Contract basis have been made during the year 2012 to date:-
J.E.(Civil) General Category 1995 SC Category 1995 ST Category 1999 OBC Category 1995"
3. After having received aforesaid information, which revealed to the petitioner that the persons belonging to the 1995 batch stand appointed as Junior Engineer (Civil) on contract ::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2020 20:21:01 :::HCHP -3- basis, he filed representation dated 18.10.2014 to the Engineer-
in-Chief, HPPWD, praying therein to consider his case for .
appointment to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil), but perusal of annexure P-4 i.e. reply/order passed by the respondents pursuant to representation made by the petitioner reveals that the representation of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that till date, persons belonging to 1992 batch have been offered appointment to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) on contract basis. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the aforesaid rejection order passed by the respondents, petitioner has approached this Court in the instant proceedings praying therein for relief as reproduced above.
4. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record, this Court finds that pursuant to the information sought by the petitioner under Right to Information Act, he was informed by the respondent-
Department vide its communication dated 6.9.2014 (Annexure P-3) that till the year 2012, persons belonging to 1995 batch have been offered appointment against the posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) on contract basis, but subsequently, respondents Nos. 1 and 2, in their reply, have stated in para (b) of preliminary submissions as under:
"vide letter NO. PWE-126-JE-Apptt. (Contract) ES-III- 13791-13869 dated 05.01.2012 requisitioned names of ::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2020 20:21:01 :::HCHP -4- suitable candidates from various employment exchange offices of the State for "Batch Wife" recruitment of 15 no. post of Junior Engineer (Civil) on contract basis in the .
pay scale of Rs.1030-34800+3800 G.P. = 14100 P.M. belonging to only "General Category. 73 No. incumbents belonging to 1987 to 1992 batch were called for personal interview held on 18.04.2012. Out of 73 only 24 No. incumbents appeared for personal interview and accordingly 15 No. incumbents upto batch of 1992 were got selected and offered appointment as Junior Engineer (Civil) on contract basis."
5. Since the petitioner acquired his diploma in Civil Engineering from Board of Technical Education, Maharashtra in the year 1993 and got himself registered with the employment exchange, Bilaspur on 6.10.1993, no fault, if any, can be found with the action of the respondents so far non-issuance of interview letter to the petitioner is concerned. Since the selection was made upto the batch of 1992, learned Additional Advocate General is right in contending that there was no occasion, if any, for the Department to issue personal interview letter to the petitioner for appointment to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) (on contract), on batch-wise basis. It appears that after having received information under Right to Information Act, annexure P-3, petitioner also approached the office of Hon'ble Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh, which in turn called for report from the concerned Department. Careful ::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2020 20:21:01 :::HCHP -5- perusal of annexure R-1 annexed with the reply filed by respondents Nos. 1 and 2, reveals that the office of Hon'ble .
Chief Minister was apprised that the Notification of vacancies to employment exchanges in the State for 15 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) was issued on batch-wise basis (on contract), vide letter dated 5.1.2012. Vide aforesaid communication, 73 candidates of batches of 1987 to 1992 were called for interview on 18.4.2012. Reply filed by respondents further reveals that the earlier information supplied under Right to Information Act vide letter dated 6.1.2014 (annexure P-3), wherein it was stated that in the year 2012, candidates of batches upto 1995 had been offered appointment on contract basis, was erroneously issued, however, such typographical mistake was rectified vide annexure R-1. Leaving everything aside, it has been categorically stated in the aforesaid reply that as per record, after 1992 batch, no candidate has been appointed to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) on batch-wise basis.
6. Since there is no dispute that the petitioner belongs to 1993 batch and vide communication dated 5.1.2012, names of candidates belonging to batches of 1987 to 1992 were called for personal interview, no fault, if any, can be found with the action of the respondents so far non-issuance of call letter to the petitioner for personal interview is concerned.
::: Downloaded on - 18/08/2020 20:21:01 :::HCHP -6-7. In view of above, the petition at hand fails and is accordingly dismissed alongwith all pending applications.
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(Sandeep Sharma)
Judge
August 17, 2020
(Vikrant)
r to
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