Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

Dr. Rajiv Dhawan had urged with vehemence that the appointments of the respondents in the Land and Building Tax Department would be ad hoc within the meaning of Rule 3 of Absorption Rules. The said Rule is quoted hereinbelow in extenso:

Rule 3. Definitions.- In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires;-- (a) Ad hoc appointment means temporary appointment made without selection of the candidate by any of the method of recruitment provided under the relevant service rules, or any orders of Government where no service Rules exist and otherwise than on the recommendations of the Commission if the post is in its purview. (b) Appointing Authority means the appointing Authority as defined by the Service rule of the State applicable to a particular post and where not so defined, as defined or constituted by the Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control, and Appeal) Rules, 1958; (c) Committee means the Absorption Committee constituted by the Government under rule 5 of these rules; (d) Commission means the Rajasthan Public Service Commission;

According to the learned counsel since there was no relevant Service Rules for recruitment to the post under the Land and Building Tax Department it has to be assumed that such appointment has been made without any selection and, as such the appointment would attract the expression ad hoc in Rule 3 (a) of the Absorption Rules. We are not persuaded to accept this contention inasmuch as the expression service rules does not necessarily mean Rules framed by the Governor in exercise of power under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution. It is well settled that the service condition including the mode of recruitment to a service could be determined by a set of Administrative Order in the absence of any statutory rule operative in the field. This being the position, and when the very advertisement for filling up of the post in the Land and Building Tax Department is examined it would be apparent that the said advertisement indicated minimum educational qualification, the age of the applicant, the number of vacancies and the mode of recruitment. It was further stipulated that the selection of the candidates will be by the written test in General Knowledge, General English, General Hindi and thereafter the interview. In the aforesaid clear enunciation of the mode of recruitment to the post by the competent Executive Authority, the contention of Dr. Rajiv Dhawan that the appointments of the private respondents had been made without any selection cannot be accepted. Dr. Rajiv Dhawan alternatively argued that the second part of the definition in Rule 3(a) would also be applicable to the case in hand inasmuch as though the temporary appointment of the private respondents to the Land and Building Tax Department had been made by the order of the Government for which there was no service rules and as such, the appointment cannot be ad hoc. This submission also cannot be accepted on a true interpretation of the second part of Rule 3(a). To attract the second part the conditions to be fulfilled are (1) there does not exist any Service Rule for the appointment (2) the appointment is made under the orders of the government and (3) such appointment is made otherwise than on the recommendation of the Commission if the post comes within the purview of the Commission. It is nobodys case that the posts created under the special scheme to which the private respondents had been recruited in the Land and Building Tax Department do come within the purview of the Service Commission. In such a case if there is no service rules appointment is made by an order of the government to the post then also it will not be an ad hoc appointment in terms of Rule 3(a) of the Absorption Rules. But as we have already stated, expression Service Rule cannot be given a restrictive meaning in the absence of the definition of the said term and, therefore, it would include within its sweep the necessary Government Order providing the method of recruitment. In the case in hand in view of our conclusion, the Government Order did prescribe the method of recruitment it would be difficult for us to hold that there was no Rule existing providing the mode of recruitment. Consequently even the second part of the definition of ad hoc appointment contained in Rule 3 (a) of the Absorption Rules to have no application. The contention of Dr. Dhawan, therefore, cannot be sustained.