Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Shri Mangu Singh &Anr; vs State (Panchayati Raj Dep )Ors on 10 March, 2017
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B.Civil Writ Petition No. 2247 / 2017
1. Brijesh Kumar S/o Shri Kaluram Patidar,, Aged About 27 Years,
Village & Post Osaw, Tehsil Pidawa, District Jhalawar (Raj.).
2. Ishwar Singh Solanki S/o Bharat Singh, Aged About 32 Years,
Village & Post Kharpakala, Tehsil Pidwa, District Jhalawar
3. Hemant Kumar Patidar S/o Ramgopal Patidar, Aged About 29
Years, Village Garwada, Post Semli Khan, Tehsil Pidawa, District
Jhalawar
4. Rodulal S/o Devilal Dangi, Aged About 28 Years, Village Banjari,
Post Dharoniya, Tehsil Pidwa, District Jhalawar
5. Ramkaran Dangi S/o Shri Prabhulal Dangi, Aged About 34
Years, Kikdi, Post Kali Talai, Tehsil Pidawa, District Jhalawar
6. Kamlesh Sain S/o Mohanlal Sain, Aged About 32 Years, Village
& Post Raypur, Tehsil Pidawa, District Jhalawar
7. Jitendra Kumar Patidar S/o Dwarka Lal Patidar, Tehsil Ke Pass
Bakani, Tehsil Jhalrapatan, District Jhalawar
8. Ramswroop Meena S/o Raghunath Meena, Simalkhedi, Tehsil
Khanpur, District Jhalawar
9. Kanhiyalal Patidar S/o Jagdish Chandra Patidar, Village & Post
Donda, Tehsil Jhalrapatan, District Jhalawar
10. Rakesh Kumar Sharma S/o Durga Prasad Sharma, Village &
Post Salri, Tehsil Piawa, District Jhalawar
11. Mahaveer Bairagi S/o Ramesh Chandra Bairagi, Village & Post
Samrai, Tehsil Jhalarapatn, District Jhalawar
12. Rajesh Vaishnav S/o Balchand Vaishnav, Lalidas Colony,
Jhalawar
13. Nitin Sharma S/o Balchand Sharma, Post Office Ke Samne
Bakani, Tehsil Jhalarapatan, District Jhalawar
14. Pawan Kumar Mehar S/o Mangilal Mehar, P.S. Bakani, Tehsil
Jhalarapatan, District Jhalawar
15. Suresh Kumar Suman S/o Dinesh Kumar Suman, Aged About
31 Years, Khanpur, Tehsil Jhalrapatan, District Jhalawar
16. Ajay Kumar Soni S/o Banwari Lal Soni, Tehsil Jhalarapatan,
District Jhalawar
17. Sanjay Kumar S/o Ramchandra Kumhar, Repla, Tehsil Bakani,
2
District Jhalawar
18. Gajendra Kumar Suthar S/o Kapuraram Subar, Aged About 28
Years, 208 Luharo Ki Seri Manora, Tehsil & District Sirohi
19. Kanti Lal Mali S/o Ukaram Mali, Aged About 30 Years,
Indrapuri Colony, Water Tank Ke Pass Goyal, Tehsil & District Sirohi
20. Dalpat Singh S/o Kalyan Singh, Village & Post Jela, Tehsil &
District Sirohi
21. Leelaram Meghwal S/o Darjaram Meghwal, Kalandi, Tehsil &
District Sirohi
22. Laluram S/o Punaram, Jhadoli, Tehsil Pindwara, District Sirohi
23. Ganpat Singh S/o Hameer Singh, Aged About 31 Years,
Pindwara, District Sirohi
24. Sandeep Kumar S/o Ramesh Chandra Agarwal, Aged About 30
Years, Jen Gali, Khambal, Tehsil & District Sirohi.
25. Devilal Lodha S/o Phoolchand Lodha, Kamalpura, Post
Badwad, Tehsil Jhalrapatan, District Jhalawar
26. Abhishek Sharma S/o Ghanshyam Sharma, Bakani, Tehsil
Jharapatan, District Jhalawar
27. Tulsiram Lodha S/o Prabhu Lal Lodha, Kamalpura, Tehsil
Jharapatan, District Jhalawar
28. Mahesh Kumar Sharma S/o Bansilal, Aged About 31 Years,
Village Basar, Tehsil Khanpur, District Jhalawar
29. Tabassum B D/o Rais Mohammad, Aged About 24 Years,
Village Sarola Kala, Tehsil Khanpur, District Jhalawar
----Petitioners
Versus
1. State of Rajasthan Through the Principal Secretary, Department
of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government
Secretariat, Jaipur
2. The Director, Panchayati Raj Department, State of Rajasthan,
Jaipur
3. The Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Jhalawar
4. The Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad ,, Sirohi
----Respondents
Connected with 3 S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.2932/2017 Aditya Tripathi S/o Shri Praveen Kumar Tripathi,, Aged About 27 Years, Near Jain Temple, Raghunathpuri, Bara Takhta, Tonk, Presently Posted As Accounts Assistant (on Contract Basis), Panchayat Samiti, Nainawa, Distt. Bundi, Rajasthan.
----Petitioner Versus
1. State of Rajasthan Through Principal Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department,, Government Secretariat, Jaipur
2. Director and Commissioner, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department, Government of Rajasthan,, Secretariat, Jaipur
3. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Baran
4. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Udaipur
5. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Tonk.
6. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Karauli.
7. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Jaipur.
8. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Alwar.
9. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Bundi.
----Respondents Connected with S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.3341/2017
1. Hem Singh S/o Shri Sajjan Singh,, Aged About 31 Years, Hardas Ka Bas, Gram Panchayat, Hardas Ka Bas, Via Jharali, Tehsil Srimadhopur, Distt. Sikar (Raj.)
2. Jaipal Meena S/o Shri Badri Narain Meena,, Aged About 43 Years, Village & Post Surani, Tehsil Srimadhopur, Distt. Sikar (Raj.)
----Petitioners Versus
1. State of Rajasthan Through Principal Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department, Government Secretariat, Jaipur
2. Commissioner, Water Shed Development & Soil Conservation, Government of Rajasthan,, Secretariat, Jaipur
3. Director, Rashtriya Jal Vikas Karyakram,, Pant Krishi Bhawan, Near Secretariat, Jaipur 4
4. District Collector & District Programme Coordinator, MGNREGA,, Sikar, Distt. Sikar
5. Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, Sikar
6. Executive Engineer, Rashtriya Jal Vikas Karyakram, Zila Parishad,, Sikar
----Respondents _____________________________________________________ For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Amit Jindal Mr. R.K. Gautam with Mr. G.S. Gautam Mr. Laxmi Kant (Malpura) For Respondent(s) : Mr. Anurag Sharma AAG with Mr. Anirudh Mathur, Mr. Praneet Sharma and Mr. Krishnaveer Singh Mr. Girish Parashar, Joint Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj Department is also present in person.
_____________________________________________________ HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Judgment 09/03/2017 By this common order, three writ petitions listed before this court, titled Brijesh Kumar & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan, SBCWP No.2247/2017, Aditya Tripathi vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors., SBCWP No.2932/2017 and Hem Singh & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors, SBCWP No.3341/2017 shall be decided together. The learned counsel for the parties are in agreement that since facts involved and question of law raised are identical in all the three writ petitions, the present writ petitions can be disposed of by this common order.
Counsel for the petitioners have contended that Chief Executive Officer of various Zila Parishads in the State of Rajasthan are not counter singing the experience certificate issued 5 by the respective Block Development Officer, Executive Officer and other competent authority to enable the petitioners to secure bonus marks in the selection process to be undertaken by the respondents towards recruitment of Lower Division Clerk in the various Zila Parishads in the State of Rajasthan.
Briefly stated, in the State of Rajasthan various Zila Parishad have issued advertisement for recruitment of Lower Division Clerks. The last date for submission of application forms has already elapsed. Various rounds of litigation have preceded before filing of the present writ petitions. The State of Rajasthan earlier held that those employees who have worked under the MGNREGA Scheme, are entitled to be awarded bonus marks qua experience gained by them. However, this benefit was not extended to the persons who were performing duties of Secretary, Water Shed Committees constituted under the National Water Shed Programme.
The Secretaries of the said Water Shed Committees, approached this Court. A Division Bench of this Court held that they are at par with the employees of MGNREGA Scheme, hence, they are also entitled to be granted bonus marks for the experience.
Another Division Bench of this Court at Principal Seat at Jodhpur, in bunch of writ petitions, lead case being Mitendra Singh Rathore & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors, DBCWP No.1723/2013, decided on 30.7.2013, held that even employees of the placement agencies hired by Zila Parishads are also entitled to be awarded bonus marks for the experience gained by them. 6 The said judgment has been annexed with the writ petition preferred by the petitioner Brijesh Kumar, as Annexure-8. The operative portion of the judgment reads as under:-
1. "The writ petitions, in view of the discussion made, deserve acceptance, thus, are allowed. The distinction made for grant of weightage against experience earned by the persons employed on the posts of Junior Technical Assistant (J.T.A.), Junior Engineer, Gram Rozgar Sahayak, Data Entry Operator, Computer Operator with Machine, Lekha Sahayak, Lower Division Clerk, Co-ordinator IEC, Coordinator Training and Coordinator Supervision through placement agencies in MGNREGA or any other scheme of Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj on basis of the mode of their engagement under proviso 2nd to Rule 273 of the Rules of 1996 is declared illegal.
As a consequent to the declaration above the proviso second to Rule 273 of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules,1996 stands as under:-
"Provided also that in case of appointment to the post of Lower Division Clerk, merit shall be prepared by the Appointing Authority on the basis of such weightage as may be specified by the State Government for the marks obtained in Senior Secondary or its equivalent examination and such marks as may be specified by the State Government having regard to the length of experience exceeding on year acquired by persons engaged on the post of Junior Technical Assistant (J.T.A.), Junior Engineer, Gram Razgar Sahayak, Data Entry Operator, Computer Operator with Machine, Lekha Sahayak, Lower Division Clerk, Co- ordinator IEC, Coordinator Training, Coordinator Supervision in MGNREGA or in any other scheme of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the State."
In light of the proviso second the respondents are required to extend the weightage against the experience to the persons employed through the placement agencies also."
The learned counsel for the parties are in agreement 7 that the judgment Annexure-8, rendered in the case of Mitendra Singh Rathore (supra) was assailed by the State of Rajasthan in Special Leave Petition and said Special Leave Petition has been dismissed. Thus, the judgment Annexure-8 rendered in the case of Mitendra Singh Rathore (supra) has attained finality.
After the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition, various persons have approached this Court by filing writ petition that since they have gained experience during pendency of the litigation before this court and Supreme Court, they be held entitled to award of bonus marks towards the post of Lower Division Clerk.
This Court has dismissed the said writ petitions by holding that one must have the experience on the last date of the submission of the application form to earn bonus marks. In other words, bonus marks are only to be awarded to the candidates who were having requisite experience on the last date of submission of the application form. It was held by this Court that experience gained subsequent to the last date of submission of application form can only be considered towards subsequent advertisement to be issued by the respondents.
So far case of those persons who had gained sufficient experience for award of bonus marks on the last date of submission of application form but have been denied bonus marks on the ground that they were employees of placement agencies is concerned, their matter is required to be considered by this Court as Chief Executive Officer and respective Zila Parishads are not issuing necessary experience certificate. 8
Mr. Anurag Sharma, the learned Additional Advocate General on instructions from Girish Parashar, Joint Secretary, Panchayati Raj Department, has submitted that for issuance of experience certificate, verification is required to be done after examining the record of the placement agency. Mr. Sharma has submitted that past experience of the State show that the records of the placement agencies are manipulated and false certificates are issued. Therefore, he submits that to curb such a fraud or issuance of wrong certificate, a proforma is being prepared with the approval of the State Government and a mechanism is being developed to verify the record of the placement agencies in consonance with the observations made by the Courts.
Mr. Anurag Sharma, AAG has further submitted that proforma shall be finalized within two weeks and after verifying the records of the placement agency, experience certificates duly counter signed by the Chief Executive Officer shall be issued in favour of the petitioners, two weeks thereof.
The learned Additional Advocate General further submitted that so far experience certificates pertaining to Water Shed Committees are concerned, the same are to be issued by Executive Engineer of the concerned division and same is to be counter signed by Chief Executive Officer of the concerned Zila Parishad. The learned Additional Advocate General has submitted that since composite proforma is being prepared, certificate shall also be issued to the Secretaries of Water Shed Committees after approval of the proforma by the State of Rajasthan.
The stand taken by the learned Additional Advocate 9 General is very fair and just in the facts and circumstances of the case.
Consequently, the present writ petitions are disposed of by issuing following directions:-
a) That proforma for issuance of experience certificate to earn bonus marks as envisaged by the State Government shall be finalized within a period of two weeks from today.
b) That after experience certificate is issued by the concerned authority, same shall be verified by the respective Block Development Officer or Executive Engineer or any competent authority, as the case may be and same shall be counter signed within two weeks after finalization of the proforma by the concerned Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad.
Mr. Anurag Sharma, the learned Additional Advocate General, has further assured this court that a circular in the light of the order passed today, shall be issued to all Chief Executive Officer of concerned Zila Parishads.
A further direction is issued to the respondents to widely circulate this order in all Zila Parishads.
(KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA)J. Mak/-