Allahabad High Court
Sanjay Rai vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others on 7 July, 2020
Equivalent citations: AIRONLINE 2020 ALL 1586
Author: Vivek Agarwal
Bench: Vivek Agarwal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Court No. - 38 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 5051 of 2020 Petitioner :- Sanjay Rai Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Hritudhwaj Pratap Sahi,Samarath Singh,Sankalp Narain Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Vivek Agarwal,J.
Sri Sankalp Narain, learned counsel for the petitioner.
Petitioner has filed this writ petition being aggrieved of order dated 6.2.2020 passed by the District Inspector of Schools, Prayagraj whereby petitioner's case for promotion from Class IV post to the post of Assistant Clerk has been rejected on the ground that petitioner does not possess the necessary qualification of holding CCC certificate from DOEACC society as was made mandatory vide Government of Uttar Pradesh circular dated 3.11.2015 bearing No. 19/2015/581/Seventy/2-2015-16 (645)/2011 and circulars issued thereafter on 23.8.2016 and 4.11.2017. It is submitted that the post of Assistant Clerk in question, admittedly, became vacant on 6.11.2015 when one Assistant Clerk namely Ravi Dutt was promoted to the post of Head Clerk. Admittedly, this post as per statements of Manager of respondent no. 3 became available for being filled up through promotion of a Class IV employee.
Placing reliance on the judgment of this High Court in case of Virendra Singh Vs. State of UP and others as reported in (2013) 3 UPLBEC 1997, it is submitted that the relevant cut off date for the purpose of considering petitioner's eligibility is the date on which said post fall vacant to be filled up by promotion of Class IV employee.
Placing reliance on a circular dated 3.11.2015, it is pointed that said circular prescribed two different conditions of eligibility namely (i) 80% posts to be filled up through direct recruitment and (ii) 20% posts to be filled up through promotion.
It is submitted that nowhere it is provided that persons claiming promotion from the cadre of Class IV to the post of Assistant Clerk are required to possess CCC certificate issued by DOEACC society. Therefore, on the cut off date there being no requirement of possessing such certificate for promotion and only requirement was that a candidate should be High School pass possessing knowledge of typing, and these conditions were fulfilled by the petitioner as is apparent from the certificate issued by the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, UP and another diploma certificate was issued by Verma Typing and Shorthand Institute. Petitioner's claim for promotion should not have been rejected.
Learned Standing Counsel for the State in his turn supports the impugned order and submits that requirement of CCC certificate issued by DOEACC Society is mandatory both for direct recruitment as well as for promotion and therefore, impugned order does not call for any interference.
After hearing counsel for the parties and going through the record, this Court is in agreement with the petitioner that as per law laid down by the coordinate Bench of this Court in case of Virendra Singh Vs. State of UP and others (Supra) which has placed reliance on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of P. Mohanan Pillai Vs. State of Kerala and others as reported in 2007 (9) SCC 497 wherein in para-11 it has been held that "It is now well settled that ordinarily rules which were prevailing at the time, when the vacancies arose would be adhered to. The qualification must be fixed at that time. The eligibility criteria as also the procedures as were prevailing on the date of vacancy should ordinarily be followed"
Thus qualification which is to be seen is to be examined on 6.11.2015. Admittedly, circular dated 3.11.2015 reads as under :-
dz0 पूर्व व्यवस्था वर्तमान व्यवस्था in uke osru cS.M ,oa xszM osru inuke osru cS.M ,oa xszM osru 'kSf{kd vgZrk ,oa HkrhZ dh fof/k 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 dfu"B fyfid&lg Vad.k dfu"B lgk;d dk;kZy; lgk;d] :Vhu fyfid osru cS.M&A :0 5200&20200 ,oa xszM osru :0 1900@& dfu"B lgk;d osru cS.M&A :0 5200&20200 ,oa xszM osru :0 2000@& 80 izfr'kr lh/kh HkrhZ }kjkA vgZrk b.VjehfM,V ds lkFk&lkFk dEI;wVj lapkyu dk Mks;d (DOEAC) lkslkbVh ifjofrZr uke ukbysV }kjk iznRr lh0lh0lh0 izek.k i= rFkk fgUnh@vaxszth esa de ls de dze'k% 25@30 'kCn izfr feuV dh Vad.k xfrA 15 izfr'kr prqFkZ Js.kh ds ,sls dkfeZdksa ls inksUufr }kjk tks gkbZLdwy gks rFkk Vad.k Kku j[krs gksA 05 प्रतिशत चतुर्थ श्रेणी के ऐसे कार्मिकों से पदोन्नति द्वारा जो इण्टरमीडिएट हों तथा टंकण ज्ञान रखते हों।
Thus it is clear from the circular that apparently it has been misinterpreted by the authority concerned to deny promotion to the petitioner in asmuch as this circular which was holding field at the time of accrual of the vacancy in the cadre of Assistant Clerk to which petitioner was seeking promotion from Class IV is in three parts. Part (i) deals with direct recruitment for which qualification of certificate from DOEACC alongwith qualification of Intermediate and proficiency in Hindi / Engligh typing with 25/30 w.p.m, has been prescribed, (ii) the circular deals with 20% promotion which has been split in two further sub categories of 15% for those class IV employees who are High School pass and having knowledge of typing whereas 5% quota is prescribed for those class IV employees who are Intermediate and having knowledge of typing.
After going through the circular and the record, I have no hesitation in holding that the authorities have misread this Government Circular dated 3.11.2015 as reproduced above. As far as other subsequent circulars are concerned, they have no application to the facts of the present case in which admittedly vacancy on which petitioner is seeking promotion was made available on 6.11.2015 and therefore, the circular holding field on that date is to be considered.
In view of such facts, this writ petition deserves to be allowed and is allowed. Impugned order dated 6.2.2020 passed by District Inspector of Schools, Prayagraj is quashed. It is further directed to consider the case of the petitioner in terms of qualification prescribed for promotion of Class IV employees under prescribed 15% quota to the post of Assistant Clerk on the basis of the prescribed qualification of High School with knowledge of typing alongwith other eligible candidates strictly in order to seniority within 60 days from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order.
In above terms, the writ petition is disposed of.
Order Date :- 7.7.2020 S.K.S.