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14.2 The Recruitment Rules lay down the following eligibility criteria for absorption in the post of DTP Operator:

Technical Assistant (Varitype) or Lino Operators, Mono Operators, Readers and Compositors Grade I with five years regular service in the grade with six months of successful training in Desk Top Publishing (DTP)operation and qualifying Trade Test. The applicant might have possessed a DTP Course certificate (AnnexureA/5) issued by a private registered institution. Whether such completion of the course imparted by a private registered institution would be construed as successful training in Desk Top Publishing (DTP) operation is a question to be considered and decided by the departmental authorities in accordance with rules and instructions issued by the Department. Even if it is assumed that the said certificate is acceptable, the applicant has not stated that he ever qualified the Trade Test for the post of DTP Operator so as to be eligible for absorption in the post of DTP Operator. Trade Test prescribed as one of the eligibility criteria is certainly the Trade Test conducted by the respondent-departmental authorities while holding selection for the post of DTP Operator and/or redeployment/absorption of surplus employees in the post of DTP Operator. It is not the case of the applicant that he ever appeared in and qualified the Trade Test conducted by the respondent-departmental authorities for the post of DTP Operator. Thus, the applicant cannot be said to have fulfilled the eligibility criteria for redeployment in the post of DTP Operator without going through the process of selection and without undergoing the training or qualifying the Trade Test for the post of DTP Operator as prescribed in the Recruitment Rules.

15. It was also submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that the applicant having opted for absorption in the post of DTP Operator, and other surplus Lino Operators having been absorbed in the post of DTP Operator, the respondents ought to have absorbed/redeployed him in the post of DTP Operator, more so when there are clear vacancies in the post of DTP Operator. The other limb of submission of the learned counsel was that as the applicant has a right to be redeployed in the post of DTP Operator, the impugned order dated 13.6.2013 redeploying the applicant in the post of Offset Machine Assistant is discriminatory; that the applicant has a fundamental right to assail his redeployment in the post of Offset Machine Assistant as being discriminatory; and that the applicant cannot be said to have voluntarily got the discrimination or waived the said fundamental right against discrimination. To buttress his submission, the learned counsel invited our attention to the decision of the Honble Supreme Court in Basheshar Nath v. Commissioner of Income Tax, (1959) Supp. (1) SCR 528,wherein it was held that a person cannot voluntarily get discrimination or waive his fundamental rights against discrimination.

15.1 The respondents have emphatically asserted that in the year 2007/2008 when the process of redeployment of surplus employees was initiated, there was only one vacancy in the post of DTP Operator available in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi; and that the senior most surplus Lino Operator was selected and redeployed in the said post of DTP Operator. It is not the case of the applicant that he was the senior most surplus Lino Operator. The applicant having retracted his option dated 11.7.2007 for absorption as DTP Operator in Government of India Press located at other places, as stated hereinbefore, and there being no vacancy available in the post of DTP Operator in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi, he was considered and selected for absorption in the post of Offset Machine Assistant against the vacancies then available in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi, and accordingly he was deputed to undergo training for the post of Offset Machine Assistant. It also transpires from the record that after undergoing the said training, he was declared to have qualified the trade test for the post of Offset Machine Assistant, vide O.M. dated 4.12.2008 ibid. Such decision of the respondent no.3 is based on the O.M. dated 20.9.2007 issued by respondent no.2 conveying approval of the Ministry of the Urban Development, Government of India, for an omnibus relaxation of the provisions of the Recruitment Rules. Having accepted the decision of respondent no.3 selecting him for absorption in the post of Offset Machine Assistant and deputing him to undergo the required training for the post of Offset Machine Assistant as per the Recruitment Rules and further having undergone the said training in 2007/2008, the applicant cannot be allowed to question his redeployment in the post of Offset Machine Assistant in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi. In the above view of the matter, no discrimination can be said to have been meted out to the applicant at any point of time. Therefore, the question of the applicant voluntarily getting discrimination or waiving his fundamental right against the discrimination does not arise, and the decision of the Honble Supreme Court in Basheshar Naths case (supra) is of no help to the applicant.

16.2 Indisputably, there were vacancies in the post of DTP Operator available in the Government of India Press located at places other than Minto Road, New Delhi, at the relevant point of time, and that the only vacancy then available in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi, was filled up by the senior most surplus Lino Operator. In the letter dated 1.7.2013 issued by the Manager, Government of India Press, Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi, which was filed by the applicant in support of his plea of availability of vacancies in the post of DTP Operator, it has been stated that there are 20 vacancies in the post of DTP Operator available in the said Press. Admittedly, during 2007 and 2008 there were vacancies in the post of DTP Operator available in the Government of India Press located at (1)Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi;(2) Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi; (3)Faridabad Press; and (4) Alligarh Press, and the applicant, vide his option dated 11.7.2007, opted for redeployment/absorption in the Government of India Press located at either of the said four places and also indicated his preferences. But he had retracted the option dated 11.7.2007 and made a representation dated 13.7.2007 for absorption in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi. The other letter dated 20.12.2013, relied on by the applicant in support of his plea of availability of vacancies in the post of DTP Operator in the Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi, states that there are three vacancies in the post of DTP Operator available at the said place. The said letter does not state that these three vacancies were available during 2007 or 2008 when the applicant was selected and deputed for undergoing training and when he was declared to have qualified the trade test for the post of Offset Machine Assistant. In the above view of the matter, the availability of vacancies, as pleaded by the applicant, does not support the claim of the applicant as raised in the present O.A.