Jharkhand High Court
Madhusudan Mahto vs The State Of Jharkhand Through The ... on 21 March, 2024
Author: Rajesh Shankar
Bench: Rajesh Shankar
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P. (S) No.5543 of 2019
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Madhusudan Mahto .......... Petitioner.
-Versus-
1. The State of Jharkhand through the Secretary, School Education and Literacy Department, Project Bhawan, Dhurwa, Ranchi.
2. The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, through its Chairman, Kalinagar, Namkum, Ranchi.
.......... Respondents.
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CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR
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For the Petitioner : Mr. S. N. Singh, Advocate For the State : Mr. Faisal Allam, A.C. to S.C. (Mines)-III For the JSSC : Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, Advocate
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Order No.13 Date: 21.03.2024
1. The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondents to issue appointment letter to the petitioner for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject "Panchpargania" for Ranchi district under physically handicapped quota with respect to Combined Graduate Trained Teacher Competitive Examination- 2016 conducted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission pursuant to Advertisement no.21 of 2016.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is aggrieved with non-consideration of his candidature by the respondent-Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) under physically handicapped quota, infringing such right guaranteed under law.
3. Mr. Sanjoy Piprawall, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-JSSC argues that the petitioner submitted his online application before the JSSC for consideration of his candidature for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate 2 Teacher for the subject "Panchpargania" for Ranchi district under EBC-1 category. He also claimed the benefit of reservation under physically handicapped quota (cerebral palsy), as would be evident from the copy of his online application, annexed as Annexure-B to the counter affidavit.
4. It is further submitted that Advertisement no.21 of 2016 was published in terms with the requisition of the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand for appointment of Trained Graduate Teacher in several subjects in scheduled and non- scheduled districts. Ranchi is under scheduled district, as would be evident from the relevant Clause of the said advertisement.
5. It is further submitted that at the time of issuance of the said advertisement, the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 was in force. In terms with Section 33 of the said Act, the Government has to appoint in every establishment such percentage of vacancies not less than three percent for persons or class of persons with disability of which one percent each shall be reserved for persons suffering from;
(i) Blindness or low vision;
(ii) Hearing impairment; and
(iii) Locomotor Disability or Cerebral Palsy.
6. Learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC further submits that the State Government vide circular dated 7th November, 2007 also fixed roster point for extending the benefit of reservation 3 to physically handicapped candidates on horizontal basis in the following manner:-
(i) Blindness or low vision 1 to 33
(ii) Hearing impairment 33 to 67
(iii) Locomotor Disability or
Cerebral Palsy 68 to 100
7. It is also submitted that in the said advertisement, for the subject "Panchpargania" under Ranchi district, one post each was earmarked for physically handicapped quota under blindness/low vision i.e. one post for direct recruitment candidates and one post for the candidates under Primary Teacher category and no post was earmarked for the candidates suffering from Locomotor Disability or Cerebral Palsy. Out of seven posts which were advertised for the subject "Panchpargania" for Ranchi district under direct recruitment, only one post was reserved for EBC-1 category, as would be evident from Clause 2 of the said advertisement. There were two posts advertised for Saraikella-Kharsawan district under direct recruitment for the subject "Panchpargania" i.e. one post each for unreserved category and scheduled tribe category, out of which one post was reserved for physically handicapped quota under blindness/low vision. No post was advertised under physically handicapped quota for the candidates suffering from Locomotor disability or Cerebral Palsy in the subject "Panchpargania" for Ranchi district. Therefore, the benefit of horizontal reservation under physically handicapped 4 quota (Cerebral Palsy) under EBC-1 for the subject "Panchpargania" was not extended to the petitioner.
8. It is further submitted that in district-wise merit list for Ranchi district, the petitioner secured lesser marks than the last successful candidate under unreserved category as well as under EBC-1 category for the subject "Panchpargania" and as such the petitioner was not included in the list of shortlisted candidates for verification of testimonials after which the respondent-JSSC published the final result and also made recommendation to the State Government on 6th March, 2019 for appointment of successful candidates on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher for the subject "Panchpargania" for Ranchi district.
9. Learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC also submits that as per notification no.5938 dated 14th July, 2016 issued by the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand, only local residents of the districts, namely, Sahebganj, Dumka, Jamtara, Latehar, Ranchi, Khunti, Gumla, Lohardaga, Simdega, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Saraikella Kharsawan were eligible for appointment on Class-III and IV posts of the district cadre in various departments of the concerned districts for a period of ten years from the date of issuance of the said notification.
10. After commencement of the selection process for appointment of Trained Graduate Teacher in various subjects vide Advertisement no.21 of 2016, the notification dated 14 th July, 2016 was challenged before this Court in W.P.(C) No.1387 of 5 2017 (Soni Kumari Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors.) and analogous cases. The said writ petition along with other analogous cases was allowed vide order dated 21st September, 2020 and the appointment made in the scheduled districts was quashed. Aggrieved with the said order dated 21st September, 2020, the appointed candidates of the scheduled districts challenged the same before the Hon'ble Supreme Court by filing S.L.P.(C) No.12490 of 2020 (Satyajit Kumar & Ors. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors.). The aforesaid S.L.P. and other analogous cases were partly allowed vide order dated 2 nd August, 2022, modifying the judgment and order passed by the High Court. Thereafter, Cont. Petition (C) No.612 of 2020 in Civil Appeal No.4044 of 2022 (Soni Kumari & Ors. Vs. K. Ravi Kumar & Ors.) and other contempt petitions were filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court on the ground of non-compliance of the order dated 2nd August, 2022. The said contempt petition and other analogous contempt cases were heard on 2nd December, 2022 and following order was passed:-
"Let the State prepare a merit list of those candidates who were actually appointed both in the Scheduled Area and Non-Scheduled Area. Thereafter, whoever a candidate in the non-Scheduled Area is found to be more meritorious than the last candidate in the Scheduled area of which he was given option, then that candidate in the Non-Scheduled area be adjusted in the concerned Scheduled Area as per his merit and the last candidate in that Scheduled Area have to reshuffled and adjusted in another district, among those who are already appointed. Similarly, with respect to those original writ petitioners, who approached the High Court, their merit list also be prepared by the State Government and they may accordingly be appointed and/or adjusted in the concerned Non-scheduled or Scheduled district as per their merits. However, it is specifically observed that 6 except those who did not approach the High Court, the benefit of this order shall not be given to them".
11. It is further submitted that Contempt Petition (C) No.612 of 2022 and other analogous contempt cases were again heard on 15th December, 2022 and following order was passed:-
(i) The State shall prepare merit list state-wise pursuant to the applications already invited.
(ii) The candidates who already applied for scheduled area and they were not offered appointments in the scheduled area in view of earlier notification which has been struck down, they may be adjusted as per the earlier judgment and order dated 02.08.2022.
(iii) Thereafter, the appointment to be made with respect to 425 candidates who were the original writ petitioners before the High Court as well as in whose favour subsequently some order are passed by the High Court.
(iv) Thereafter, the remaining vacant post meant for direct recruitment (75%) shall be filled in absolutely on the basis of merit as per the Stat-wise merit list and subject-wise and after following due procedure as required, namely, counselling etc.
(v) Thereafter, so far as the posts remains vacant meant for promotion (25%) are concerned, the same may be filled in by operating the State-wise merit list in accordance with law. Meaning thereby, if any candidates for promotional quota is not available, in 7 that case the remaining vacancies be filled in accordance to proviso to Rule 9 of the Rules, 2015.
However, it is made clear that merit list be operated and the appointments be made restricted to the total vacancies advertised/notified i.e. 17786 posts only. It is also made clear that High Court shall not pass any contrary order with respect to the recruitment in question.
12. After passing of the order dated 15th September, 2022 by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the respondent-JSSC started the process to revise the merit list and shortlisted the candidates for verification of testimonials. After verification of testimonials of shortlisted candidates, the JSSC published the result on 18th March, 2023 on the basis of state-wise merit list for appointment of Trained Graduate Teacher for the subject "Panchpargania" and also made recommendation on 20 th March, 2023 to the State Government for appointment of successful candidates.
13. It is also submitted that the petitioner has secured 230 marks whereas the last selected candidate under E.B.C.-1 category for the subject "Panchpargania" has secured 254 marks in State-wise merit list and as such the petitioner was not declared successful for appointment. Since no post was requisitioned for physically handicapped (Cerebral Palsy) quota, the prayer made in the writ petition is not tenable. Moreover, no seat under E.B.C.-1 category is vacant for the subject "Panchpardania" on the basis of State-wise merit list. 8
14. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record.
15. The specific case of the respondent-JSSC is that no post was requisitioned for the candidates suffering from locomotor disability under physically handicapped quota or Cerebral Palsy. The said stand taken by the respondent-JSSC appears to be correct, as on perusal of Clause 2 (details of vacancies of Advertisement no.21 of 2016) it appears that horizontal reservation was provided under physically handicapped quota i.e. blind, deaf & dumb and locomotor disability or Cerebral Palsy, however, no vacancy was earmarked for locomotor disability or Cerebral Palsy in the subject "Panchpargania".
16. Admittedly, the petitioner applied for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher for the subject "Panchpargania", which was advertised only for two districts i.e. Ranchi and Saraikella- Kharsawan, one post each with respect to horizontal reservation was reserved for the candidates suffering from visual disability in the said subject under primary teacher quota as well as direct recruitment quota (other candidates) in Ranchi district, whereas only one post under direct recruitment quota was reserved for visually handicapped candidates in the said subject for Saraikella-Kharsawan district. There was no such post available under physically handicapped quota for other candidates suffering from hearing impairment (deaf & dumb) and locomotor disability for the subject "Panchpargania" in the said districts. As per the roster, the disability of Cerebral Palsy 9 comes under locomotor disability for which there was no post available in the said districts.
17. Under the said circumstance, the petitioner's prayer for issuance of direction upon the respondents to offer him appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject "Panchpargania" for Ranchi district under physically handicapped quota (Cerebral Palsy) is not tenable in law. Otherwise also, after preparation of State-wise merit list in terms with the order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in S.L.P. (C) No.12490 of 2020 (Satyajit Kumar & Ors. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors.) as well as the orders passed in Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 612 of 2022 in Civil Appeal No.4044 of 2022 (Soni Kumari Vs. K. Ravi Kumar), the last selected candidate under E.B.C. Category-1 for the subject "Panchpargania" has secured 254 marks i.e. higher than the petitioner, who has secured 230 marks.
18. In view of the aforesaid discussions, no relief can be granted to the petitioner under extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this court.
19. The writ petition being devoid of merit is, accordingly, dismissed.
(Rajesh Shankar, J.) Sanjay/AFR