Bombay High Court
Vinodkumar Singh Rajkumar Singh Thakur vs State Of Maharashtra, Through Its ... on 14 January, 2016
Author: Vasanti A. Naik
Bench: Vasanti A. Naik, A. S. Chandurkar
１
w.p.4185.15
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH
NAGPUR.
WRIT PETITION NO. 4185 OF 2015
Vinodkumar Singh Rajkumar
Singh Thakur, aged 33 yrs.
Occu. Service, R/o Near
Radhakrushna Mandir,
Seminary Hills, Surendragadh,
Nagpur. PETITIONER.
VERSUS
1] State of Maharashtra through
Secretary, Department of State
Excise, Mantralaya, Mumbai-32.
2] Superintendent of State Excise
Civil Lines, Nagpur.
3] State of Maharashtra,
through Collector, Nagpur. RESPONDENTS.
Shri S. P. Bhandarkar, Counsel for the petitioner.
Shri K. L. Dharmadhikari, Assistant Government Pleader for the respondent
nos. 1 to 3.
CORAM: SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK &
A. S. CHANDURKAR JJ.
Dated : JANUARY 14, 2016.
ORAL JUDGMENT: (Per Smt. Vasanti A. Naik J. )
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The writ petition is heard finally at the stage of admission with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties.
By this petition, the petitioner challenges the order of the ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 ::: ２ w.p.4185.15 Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, so far as it directs the respondent to forward the proposal of the petitioner to the Caste Scrutiny Committee for verification of the caste claim.
Few facts giving rise to the writ petition are stated thus:
The grand father of the petitioner, Sudarshansingh Thakur was working in the Public Works Department of the State of Maharashtra. The grand father of the petitioner expired while in service in the year 1989 and the father of the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground as a Watchman in the year 1990. Unfortunately, the father of the petitioner also expired while in service on 03.01.2003 and the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground as a Constable in the State Excise Department. Since the respondent no. 1 sought the caste validity certificate from the petitioner as he had mentioned that he belongs to the Scheduled Tribes, the petitioner had tendered the caste validity certificate issued by the competent authority at Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. The respondents however issued a show cause notice to the petitioner on 26.08.2005 asking the petitioner to produce the caste validity certificate from the competent authority in the State of Maharashtra as according to the respondents, the caste validity certificate issued by the authority at Rewa was not valid. The petitioner made representations to the respondents that the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground and hence he was not liable to produce caste validity certificate. The respondents however terminated the services of the petitioner by the order dated 27.09.2005. The petitioner challenged the ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 ::: ３ w.p.4185.15 order of termination before the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal Nagpur.
The Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, by the impugned order dated 19.11.2014 allowed the original application filed by the petitioner. The Tribunal quashed and set aside the order of termination and directed the respondents to reinstate the petitioner without back wages. The respondents were also directed to forward the proposal of the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee for verification of the caste claim. The petitioner has challenged the part of the order of the Tribunal directing the respondents to forward the proposal of the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee.
Shri S. P. Bhandarkar, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground and hence the respondents were not justified in directing the petitioner to produce the caste validity certificate. It is stated that merely because the caste of the petitioner is Gond (Scheduled Tribes), the respondents cannot seek the caste validity certificate when the appointment of the petitioner was made on compassionate ground. It is stated that since the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground and the reservation policy is not applied while appointing a person on compassionate ground the respondents were not justified in terminating the services of the petitioner on his failure to produce the caste validity certificate from the competent authority in the State of Maharashtra. It is submitted that the Tribunal ought to have allowed the original application and should have directed the reinstatement of the petitioner without a further direction to the respondents to forward the ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 ::: ４ w.p.4185.15 proposal of the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee. It is submitted that since it is an admitted fact that the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground and since the reservation policy was not followed while making the appointment, the Tribunal could not have been directed the respondent to forward the proposal of the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee for verification of his caste claim.
Shri K. L. Dharmadhikari, the learned Assistant Government Pleader supported the order of the Tribunal. It is submitted that the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground and since the caste of the petitioner is Gond (Scheduled Tribes) it was necessary for the petitioner to produce the caste validity certificate from a competent authority in the State of Maharashtra. It is however fairly admitted that nothing was produced on behalf of the respondents before the Tribunal to point out that the reservation policy was followed while making the appointments on compassionate ground in the year 2005.
On hearing the learned counsel for the parties and on a perusal of the order of the Tribunal it appears that the Tribunal was not justified in directing the respondents to refer the caste claim of the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee for verification. Admittedly, the petitioner was appointed as a Constable in the year 2005 on compassionate ground. We do not find anything on record to show that the reservation policy was followed by the State Government while making the appointments on compassionate ground in the year 2005. In the absence of any policy of the State ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 ::: ５ w.p.4185.15 Government for making appointments on compassionate ground by adhering to the reservation policy, the appointment of the petitioner could not have been made on a post earmarked for the Scheduled Tribes. No material was placed before the Tribunal in regard to any State policy for applying reservation policy while making appointments on compassionate ground. No such material is placed in this Court despite grant of time to the respondents to point out whether any such material is available. Since the petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground, we find that the respondents were not justified in directing the petitioner to produce the caste validity certificate.
The Tribunal was not justified in directing the respondents to refer the caste claim of the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee for verification.
Hence, for the reasons aforesaid the writ petition is allowed. The order of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal is modified. Clauses (iii),
(iv), (v) and (vi) of the operative part of the order of the Tribunal are hereby quashed and set aside.
Since we find that the respondents have wrongly issued a fresh order of appointment in favour of the petitioner after the Tribunal decided the matter, we direct the respondents to strictly comply with the order of the Tribunal and reinstate the petitioner in service with continuity but without back wages.
Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. No order as to costs.
JUDGE JUDGE ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 ::: ６ w.p.4185.15 svk ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 ::: ７ w.p.4185.15 ::: Uploaded on - 15/01/2016 ::: Downloaded on - 31/07/2016 01:02:19 :::