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3. By taking advantage of letter dated 4.7.1987, Dr. Darogi Razak, the then Regional Director, Animal Husbandry, Gaya, made a number of appointments on Class III and Class IV posts without issuing any advertisement or sending requisition to the employment exchange and without making selection of any sort. The respondents were also beneficiaries of the largess doled out by Dr. Darogi Razak in violation of instructions issued by the Chief Secretary and the Animal Husbandry Department. They were appointed as Class IV employees on 9.10.1991 (respondent no.1), 24.10.1991 (respondent no.2) and 27.10.1991 (respondent nos. 3, 4 and 5). Copies of the orders of appointment of the respondents have been placed on record along with affidavit dated 8.9.2008 of Dr. Ram Narayan Singh, Joint Director (HQ), Animal Husbandry, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Resources Department, Bihar. For the sake of reference, the relevant extracts of English translation of order passed in the case of respondent no.1 - Upendra Narayan Singh are reproduced below:

13. The equality clause enshrined in Article 16 mandates that every appointment to public posts or office should be made by open advertisement so as to enable all eligible persons to compete for selection on merit - Umesh Kumar Nagpal v. State of Haryana and others [(1994) 4 SCC 138], Union Public Service Commission v. Girish Jayanti Lal Vaghela [(2006) 2 SCC 482], State of Manipur and others v. Y. Token Singh and others [(2007) 5 SCC 65] and Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad and others v. P. Mary Manoranjani and another [(2008) 2 SCC 758]. Although, the Courts have carved out some exceptions to this rule, for example, compassionate appointment of the dependent of deceased employees, for the purpose of this case it is not necessary to elaborate that aspect.

14. In Girish Jayanti Lal Vaghela's case, this Court, while reversing an order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal which had directed the Union Public Service Commission to relax the age requirement in the respondent's case, elucidated the meaning of the expression "equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to public employment" in the following words:

"Article 16 which finds place in Part III of the Constitution relating to fundamental rights provides that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State. The main object of Article 16 is to create a constitutional right to equality of opportunity and employment in public offices. The words `employment' or `appointment' cover not merely the initial appointment but also other attributes of service like promotion and age of superannuation, etc. The appointment to any post under the State can only be made after a proper advertisement has been made inviting applications from eligible candidates and holding of selection by a body of experts or a specially constituted committee whose members are fair and impartial through a written examination or interview or some other rational criteria for judging the inter se merit of candidates who have applied in response to the advertisement made. A regular appointment to a post under the State or Union cannot be made without issuing advertisement in the prescribed manner which may in some cases include inviting applications from the employment exchange where eligible candidates get their names registered. Any regular appointment made on a post under the State or Union without issuing advertisement inviting applications from eligible candidates and without holding a proper selection where all eligible candidates get a fair chance to compete would violate the guarantee enshrined under Article 16 of the Constitution."
"......... The object of recruitment to any service or post is to secure the most suitable person who answers the demands of the requirements of the job. In the case of public employment, it is necessary to eliminate arbitrariness and favouritism and introduce uniformity of standards and orderliness in the matter of employment. There has to be an element of procedural fairness in recruitment. If a public employer chooses to receive applications for employment where and when he pleases, and chooses to make appointments as he likes, a grave element of arbitrariness is certainly introduced. This must necessarily be avoided if Articles 14 and 16 have to be given any meaning. We, therefore, consider that insistence on recruitment through Employment Exchanges advances rather than restricts the rights guaranteed by Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The submission that Employment Exchanges do not reach everywhere applies equally to whatever method of advertising vacancies is adopted. Advertisement in the daily press, for example, is also equally ineffective as it does not reach everyone desiring employment. In the absence of a better method of recruitment, we think that any restriction that employment in government departments should be through the medium of employment exchanges does not offend Articles 14 and