Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary v. The Bihar Electricity Board & Ors.

Patna High Court CWJC No.21798 of 2012 (4) dt.15-01-2013 enumerated in paragraph 1 of the writ petition, which reads as follows:

That by this petition the petitioner prays for direction on respondents to add marks for weight age in service in continuation to employment notice No. 07/2011, as has been awarded to others, and thereafter to consider the case of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Assistant Electrical Engineer in General/G.T.O. Cadre, taking into account that similarly situated Junior persons have been selected for the appointment against the said posts.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner was initially appointed on contract basis for a period of six months by an order dated 10.4.2007 (Annexure-1) on the post of Assistant Electrical Engineer (General) on consolidated remuneration of Rs. 10,000/- per month. The petitioner claims to have joined the post on 24.4.2007, whereafter, he was sent for training. It is the case of the petitioner that his service was extended for another period of six months by an order dated

30.10.2007 (Annexure-4). However, it is admitted case of the parties that the service of the petitioner on contract basis came to an end with effect from 10.1.2009, when resignation of the Patna High Court CWJC No.21798 of 2012 (4) dt.15-01-2013 petitioner was accepted. It appears that by Employment Notice No. 07/2011 dated 31.12.2011 (Annexure-13) issued by the respondent-Bihar State Electricity Board, applications were invited from the eligible candidates for their appointment on temporary basis under the respondent-Board. Altogether 105 posts of Assistant Electrical Engineer were notified, which were required to be filled up pursuant to the aforesaid selection process. Clause 2B of the Employment Notice provided for grant of weight age to those engineers, who were working under the respondent-Bihar State Electricity Board on contract basis. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that since the petitioner had worked as Assistant Electrical Engineer on contract basis, he was also entitled to get weight age marks as similarly situated persons have been given benefits under the aforesaid clause 2B of the Employment Notice (Annexure-13).

In the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent-Board, it has clearly been stated in paragraph-5 that the recruitment process has concluded and selected candidates have already been posted. It has been specifically pleaded by the respondent-Board that since the petitioner was no longer in service of the Board with effect from 10.1.2009, therefore, he could not Patna High Court CWJC No.21798 of 2012 (4) dt.15-01-2013 have been awarded any weight age marks in terms of Clause 2B of the Employment Notice. It has also been pleaded that the persons, who have been granted benefit under Clause 2B of the Employment Notice, their services were extended, even subsequently, and therefore, such persons have been granted benefit of Clause 2B. It is not in dispute that the petitioner was appointed on contract basis in the year 2007 and finally his service was extended till 31.3.2009, but, in the meantime, he had submitted his resignation letter on 10.1.2009 (Annexure-7), which was accepted by the competent authority of the respondent-Board with effect from 10.1.2009 itself.

Admittedly, when the Employment Notice No. 07/2011 (Annexure-13) was issued on 31.12.2011, the petitioner was not in service of the respondent-Board. Therefore, according to the respondent-Board, the petitioner was not entitled to the benefit of Clause 2B of the Employment Notice. However, according to learned counsel, the petitioner should have also been granted benefit of the provisions of Clause 2B of the Employment Notice. In order to consider the rival claims, it would be appropriate to reproduce Clause 2B of the Employment Notice No. 7/2011, which reads as follows: “2B: Candidates who are working in BSEB as a Patna High Court CWJC No.21798 of 2012 (4) dt.15-01-2013 contract Engineer, field of Electricity Generation/Transmission/Supply & Distribution system shall be given weight age. The above weight age shall be in terms of 2 (Two) extra marks for each completed year of service or 1 (one) mark for each completed six months or part thereof, over and above the marks obtained by the candidate in the written examination written marks as well as weight age shall be taken into consideration for preparation of merit list for the consideration.

For example, if a candidate obtains 55 marks though the written test and has three and half years of experience in BSEB as contract engineer he will be granted 7 weight age experience marks which will be added to the written marks obtained by him in written examination i.e. 55+7=62. Thus his total marks will be taken as 62 in preparation of overall merit list. However the examination weight age marks shall be limited to be 10.” On plain reading of Employment Notice (Annexure- 13), it is apparent that very opening line of Clause 2B provides that only such candidates, who are working under Bihar State Patna High Court CWJC No.21798 of 2012 (4) dt.15-01-2013 Electricity Board as contract engineer shall be given weight age. Clause 2B or any other clause of the aforesaid Employment Notice does not provide that the Assistant Electrical Engineer, who was working in Bihar State Electricity Board on contract basis at any point of time, shall be given weight age.

Admittedly, the petitioner was not working under the respondent-Board, when the selection process started on 31.12.2011 on the basis of the Employment Notice No. 7/2011. That being the position, the petitioner cannot claim any benefit of Clause 2B of the Employment Notice No. 7/2011 for grant of weight age. Further more, the selection process has already been concluded and selected persons have already been posted at different places. For the reasons recorded above, this Court is of the opinion that no relief, as prayed for by the petitioner, can be granted to him. In the result, this application has to fail and it is, accordingly, dismissed. RPS/- (Birendra Prasad Verma, J)