Patna High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8598 of 2013 ====================================================== Pramod Kumar S/O Sri Bindeshwari Mahto R/O Mohalla- Bari Keshopur, P.S.- Jamalpur, District- Munger .... .... Petitioner/s Versus 1. The State Of Bihar Through The Principal Secretary Education Department, New Secretariat, Vikas Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 2. Director, Research And Training Directorate Education Department, Government Of Bihar, New Secretariat, Vikas Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 3. District Education Officer, Education Department, Lakhisarai 4. District Programme Officer, District Education Project, Lakhisarai 5. Block Education Officer Kajra Education Block, Suryagarha Block, District- Lakhisarai 6. Block Education Officer Suryagarha Education Block, Lakhisarai 7. Principal, District Institute Of Education And Training (Diet For Short) Situated At Mahila Teachers' Training College, Lakhisarai 8. Munindra Jha, Trained Graduate Teacher Upgradated Middle School, Kishanpur, Suryagarha, District- Lakhisarai .... .... Respondents ====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Kishore Kr. Thakur, Adv. For the State : Mr. Yogendra Prasad Sinha, AAG-15 Mr. Rakesh Ambastha AC to AAG-15 For the Bihar Education Project : Mr. Girijesh Kumar, Adv. ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MIHIR KUMAR JHA ORAL ORDER 5 08-08-2013 Heard learned counsel for the parties as with regard to the following relief prayed in this writ application:- "(i) To set aside that part of the office order, contained in Memo no. 51 dated 1.4.2013, issued under the signature of respondent Principal of District Education and Training Institute, Lakhisarai, by which, in complete contravention of
Legal Reasoning
Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 2 the Rule framed by the Research and Training Directorate of the Human Resources Department of the respondent State, and thereby without giving any weightage and/or without considering the extra/special qualification possessed by the petitioner, the Private Respondent No. 8 has been illegally selected for appointment to the post of Block Resource Centre Co-ordinator (BRCC for short) in the subject of Science and Mathematics for the Suryagarha Block of the district of Lakhisarai. (ii) The petitioner further prays for restraining the respondents from giving effect to the said office order dated 1.4.2013 (Annexure-1) considering the fact that the respondent Principal, only with a malafide intention, did not choose to place the preliminary comparative merit chart including the extra/special qualification of all the eleven candidates aspiring for the said post of Block Resource Centre Co-ordinator (hereinafter referred to as BRCC for short) before the Selection Committee, and thereby without getting the said preliminary merit chart scrutinized by the Selection Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 3 Committee published t he provisional merit-list including therein the names of such aspirants who did not possess even the basic essential qualification required to the possessed by such candidates for being included in the said provisional merit-list and/or to be finally considered for appointment to the said post of BRCC created at the Block level of Suryagarha in the district of Lakhisarai. (iii) The petitioner further prays for a direction to the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner afresh after setting aside the impugned order dated 1.4.2013 (Annexure-1) taking into account the essential qualification as also the extra/special qualification possessed by him in terms of the guideline issued by the Research and Training Directorate of the Education Department, the provisions of which are required to be mandatorily followed for the purposes of selection and/or appointment to the post of BRCC." Assailing the selection and appointment of the
Legal Reasoning
respondent no.8, Mr. Kishore Kumar Thakur, learned counsel for Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 4 the petitioner has submitted that when the petitioner was possessing the special qualification as laid down in the advertisement, he could not have been outscored/outsmarted by the respondent no.8 who had no such special qualification. In this regard, he has invited attention of this Court towards firstly to the selection criteria laid down by the official respondents and secondly to the comparative chart in which the inter-se merit of the petitioner vis-à-vis respondent no.8 with eight other candidates have been adjudged. Attractive though the aforesaid submissions of Mr. Thakur may be, this Court on perusing the guidelines would find that the submission of Mr. Thakur cannot be accepted for more than one reason inasmuch as the relevant portion of the qualification laid down by the respondents reads as follows:- ^^ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;d jkT; ds izR;sd ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz esa fLFkr izkFkfed@izkjfEHkd fo|ky;ksa ,oa inLFkkfir f’k{kdksa ds dk;ksZa ds i;Zos{k.k vuqJo.k ,,oa vdknfed vuqleFkZu iznku djus rFkk vko’;drkuqlkj mUgsa izf’k{k.k iznku djus gsrq izR;sd lalk/ku dsUnz ij 1 fof’k"V ;ksX;k/kkjh f’k{kd gksxaas tks ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;d ds :i esa tkus tk,axsA ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;d ds fu;a=.k ,oa funsZ’ku esa dk;Z djsxkA vgZrk vko’;d vgZrk ’kS{kf.kd & U;wure fdlh fo"k; es LukrdksRrj ;ksX;rk Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 5 …LukrdksRrj ;ksX;rk/kkjh ds ugha miyC/k gksus dh fLFkfr esa Lukre ;ksX;rk/kkjh dk p;u fd;k tk ldrk gSA‰ iz’kSf{kf.kdh& U;qure nks o"khZ; fMIyksek bu ,tqds’ku% …mPpre ;ksX;rk/kkjh ;Fkk% ch- ,M-@,e- ,M- ;ksX;rk/kkjh dks izkFkfedrk nh tk,xhA‰ 1- ’kS{kf.kd ,oa iz’kS{kf.kd :i ls leku ;ksX;rk/kkjh ,d ls vf/kd vH;fFkZ;ksa ds miyC/k gksus dh fLFkfr esa iz’kS{kf.kd ;ksX;rk ds izkIrkad dks p;u dk vk/kkj cuk;k tk,xkA 2- iz’kS{kf.kd izkIrkad leku gksus dh fLFkfr esa ’kS{kf.kd izkIrkad dks vk/kkj cuk;k tk,xkA 3- ’kS{kf.kd ,oa iz’kS{kf.kd izkIrkad leku gksus dh fLFkfr esa ijh{kk ds ek/;e ls p;u fd;k tk,xkA f’k{k.k dk;Z dk vuqHko& izkFkfed izkjfEHkd fo|ky; esa de ls de rhu o"kZ dk;Z djus dk vuqHko vf/kdre mez lhek & 55 o"kZA dEi;wVj ls lacaf/kr tkudkjh & dEi;wVj lapkyu dh vk/kkjHkwr tkudkjh vko’;d gSA fof’k"V vgZrk mij fu/kkZfjr vko’;d vgZrk/kkjh vH;fFkZ;ksa esa ls fuEufyf[kr fof’k"V ;ksX;rk j[kusokys vH;fFkZ;ksa dks izkFkfedrk nh tk,xhA ’kkjhfjd :i ls Hkze.k esa l{ke gksA ’kS{kf.kd xfrfof/k;ksa iqLrd ys[ku f’k{kd izf’k{k.k ekWM;wy fuekZ.k vkfn dk;ksZa esa Hkkx ysus dk vuqHko …izek.k i= jkT; f’k{kk ’kks/k ,oa izf’k{k.k ifj"kn ls fn;k tk,xkA‰ ikB lgxkeh fdz;kvksa rFkk % [ksy dwn xfr laxhr ukVd vkfn esa Hkkx ysus dk vuqHkoA vof/k% ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;d dk p;u vf/kdre 5 o"kZ ds fy, fd;k tk,xkA dk;Z larks"kizn ugha ik;s tkus dh fLFkfr esa ftyk f’k{kk ,oa izf’k{k.k laLFkku ds izkpk;Z ds }kjk fdlh Hkh le; bUgsa in ls gVk;k tk ldrk gSA Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 6 p;u% ladqy lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;d dk p;u Hkh iz[kaM lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;d ds p;u gsrq ftyk ,oa izf’k{k.k laLFkku ds Lrj ij xfBr 5 lnL;h; p;u lfefr ds }kjk gh fd;k tk,xkA p;u dh izfdz;k % loZizFke izkpk;Z ftyk f’k{kk ,oa izf’k{k.k laLFkku ds }kjk p;u lfefr dh cSBd vkgqr dj oSls lHkh ladqyksa dks iz[kaM lalk/ku dsUnz leUo;dksa ds lg;ksx ls fpfUgr fd;k tk,xk ftlesa 5- funs’kd@foHkkxk/;{k@okpd@O;k[;krk jkT; f’k{kk ’kks/k ,oa izf’k{k.k ifj"kn~A 6- ftyk f’k{kk inkf/kdkjh 7- izkpk;Z@mi izkpk;Z@ojh; O;k[;krk@O;k[;krk ftyk f’k{kk ,oa izf’k{k.k laLFkkuA 8- funs’kd ’kks/k ,oa izf’k{k.k rFkk funs’kd jkT; f’k{kk ’kks/k ,oa izf’k{k.k ifj"kn ds funs’k ij izkpk;Z ,oa O;k[;krk izkFkfed f’k{kd f’k{kk egkfo|ky;@iz[kaM v/;kid f’k{kk laLFkkuA** From conjoint reading of the aforesaid provision laying down essential qualification as well as special qualification and the manner of selection, it would be clear that firstly the essential qualification has to be examined and a person who has higher marks in training examination has to be ranked higher than a person possessing the bare requisite qualification. The procedure of selection in fact also lays down that if a person having the same qualification and same marks in training examination are found, their inter-se merit has to be decided on the basis of written test. Having so provided in the manner of selection, Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 7 there is also a provision of special qualification which says that amongst the aforesaid persons, preference will be given to the persons possessing special qualification. Such special qualification, therefore, can by itself could become deciding factor if two candidates are found to be absolutely equal on all parameters as indicated above, namely, in the qualification, in the marks and also in the written test so prescribed. Here in this case, from the comparative chart, it would be clear that whereas the petitioner has obtained only 60% marks in his Post Graduation, the respondent no.8 has 70% marks. Again in the B.Ed. examination, while the respondent no.8 has 69.40% marks, the petitioner in the B.Ed. examination has only 60% marks and, therefore the Respondent no. 8 has been ranked above in the merit list. The plea that the petitioner was possessing special qualification and, therefore, he should have been selected in preference to either the respondent no.8 or two others placed above the respondent no.8 has to be only noted for its being rejected. If the petitioner and the respondent no.8 were found to be absolutely same on the merit, probably the special qualification could have been become the deciding factor but having regard to the scheme of selection as laid down in the guidelines this Court would find it difficult to accept that despite the petitioner being Patna High Court CWJC No.8598 of 2013 (5) dt.08-08-2013 8 inferior in all respect in all the educational and training qualification, he could still be ranked better only because he had been possessing special qualification. That being so, this Court does not find any merit in this writ application and it is, accordingly, dismissed. Rishi/- (Mihir Kumar Jha, J)