Nafr High Court
Case Details
1 Digitally signed by RAGHVENDRA JAT 2025:CGHC:37674 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 558 of 2023 1 - Dr. Rakesh Kumar Chandel S/o Shri B.L. Chandel, Aged About 43 Years Assistant Professor Govt. P.G. College Kawardha District Kabirdham. 2 - Govind Prasad S/o Shri Kunjbihari Sahu, Aged About 27 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, B.C.S. Govt. College, Dhamtari District Chhattisgarh. 3 - Pallavi Sen D/o Shri Krishna Kumar Nag, Aged About 26 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, B.C.S. Govt. College, Dhamtari District Chhattisgarh. 4 - Kishore Kumar S/o Shri Chandra Prakash Gajbhiye Aged About 31 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, B.C.S. Govt. College, Dhamtari District Dhamtari Chhattisgarh. 5 - Anunay Toppo S/o Shri Vijay Kumar Toppo Aged About 31 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Maharshi Ved Vyas P.G. College, District Dhamtari Chhattisgarh. 6 - Niranjan Kumar S/o Shri Kunsh Kumar, Aged About 28 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, B.C.S. Govt. College, Dhamtari District Dhamtari Chhattisgarh.
Legal Reasoning
7 - Rashmi Kujur, S/o Shri Habil Kujur, Aged About 26 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, B.C.S. Govt. College, Dhamtari District Dhamtari Chhattisgarh. 2 8 - Ramchand, S/o Shri Gore Lal, Aged About 31 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, N.R.M. Govt. Girls College, Dhamtari District Dhamtari Chhattisgarh. 9 - Digeshwar S/o Shri Mekal Aged About 28 Years Assistant Professor, Govt. Naveen College, Aamdi District Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh. 10 - Swatantra Kumar Jatashankar, S/o Mr. Durga Prasad Jatashankar, Aged About 32 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Govt. College, Jhalmala, District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 11 - Shiv Prasad Jangde, S/o Shri Fulchand Jangde, Aged About 40 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Govt. College, Jhalmala, Dhamtari District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 12 - Santosh Kumar Dahriya, S/o Shri R. K. Chauhan, Aged About 41 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. P. G. College, Kawardha District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 13 - Dr. Sunita Jaakhad, D/o Shri Toran Lal Sahu, Aged About 33 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. P. G. College, Kawardha District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 14 - Akansha Verma, D/o Shri T. Anthony, Aged About 28 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. P. G. College, Kawardha District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 15 - Jai Mehra, D/o Mr. Piyun Ram Bhagat, Aged About 35 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. P. G. College, Kawardha District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 16 - Yogesh Dhruv, S/o Shri Rishi Kumar Dhruv, Aged About 26 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. Swami Vivekanand College,bodla, District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 17 - Rakesh Gautam S/o Shri Santi Kumram Aged About 41 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. Swami Vivekanand College, Bodla, College, Kawardha District Kabirdham Chhattisgarh. 3 18 - Aashish Kumar Netaam S/o Shri Kanas Ram Netaam, Aged About 28 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Bhanu Pratap Dev Govt. P. G. College, District Kanker, Chhattisgarh. 19 - Sudhir Sowani S/o Laxmi Prasad Saarthi, Aged About 32 Years Posted As- Sports Officer, Bhanu Pratap Dev, Govt. P. G. College, District Kanker, Chhattisgarh. 20 - Mahendra Rajak, S/o Shri Kamlesh Rajak, Aged About 38 Years Posted As Sports Officer, Govt. Indaru Kenwat Girls College, District Kanker, Chhattisgarh. 21 - Reena Jamunkar, S/o Shri Dinesh Kumarjamunkar, Aged About 28 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. Girls Indaru Kenwat College, District Kanker, Chhattisgarh. 22 - Aarti Markaam, D/o Gyaneshvar Markam, Aged About 27 Years Posted As - Assistant Professor, Govt. Indaru Kenwat Girls College, District Kanker, Chhattisgarh. 23 - Rashmi Naag, D/o Shri C.L. Naag, Aged About 28 Years Posted As- Assistant Professor, Govt. Indaru Kenwat Girls College, District Kanker Chhattisgarh. ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Principal Secretary, Finance, Department,mantralaya Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 2 - Secretary, General Administration Department, Mantralaya Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 3 - Secretary, Department Of Higher Education Mantralaya Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 4 - Chhattisgarh Public Serivce Commission , Through The Secretary, North Block, Sector-19, Nava Raipur, Atal Nagar, District - Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 4 5 - Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, Finance, Department, Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan, Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 6 - Joint Secretary, Finance, Department, Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan, Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 7 - Under Secretary, Finance, Department, Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawann Nava Raipur Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s) : Ms. Apoorva Pandey, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Mateen Siddiqui, Advocate. For Respondent(s)/ State : Mr. Ashutosh Shukla, Panel Lawyer. For Respondent No. 4 : Mr. Anand Mohan Tiwari, Advocate. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad 31/07/2025 Order on Board 1. By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for following reliefs:- “10.1) That this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to quash the applicability of the finance under 21/2020 al 22/2020 (Annexure P/1 Colly.) vis a vis the Petitioners and the terms and conditions may be fixed in consistence of the original advertisement dated 23/01/2019 and as per the Chhattisgarh Shaikshanik Seva (Mahavidyalarin Shakha Ragpatra Bharu Nyom, 2019. 5 10.2. That this Hon'ble Court may kindly direct the respondent State to fix the payscale of the Petitioners as per the Chhattisgarh Shaikshanik Seva (Mahavidyalayan Shakha, Rajpatrit) Bharti Niyam, 2019, as per the concerned Advertisement dated 23/01/2019. 10.3) That this Hon'ble Court or may alternatively be pleased to direct the respondents to consider the wages/renumeration of the petitioners in pursuance to the wages received by the Assistant Professors under the Medical Education Department. 10.4) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to grant any other relief(s), which is deemed fit and proper in the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case.” 2. The petitioners, in the present Writ Petition, have challenged the Finance Order No.21/2020, dated 29.7.2020 (Annexure P-1) issued by the Finance Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, Raipur, whereby the probation period of fresh recruits has been fixed to be 3 years instead of 2 years as it was earlier. 3. The petitioners have also sought a relief of an appropriate direction to the Respondents for providing them with the pay scale according to the terms of the advertisement. 6 4. Brief facts relevant to the disposal of the present Writ Petition are that all the Petitioners herein had applied for the post of Assistant Professors, Higher Education Department pursuant to the advertisement dated 23.01.2019 (Annexure P-3). That subsequently on 10/03/2022 the recruitment order was published by the respondent authorities for the said post and in which even though the base pay remained the same however in clause (2) it was mentioned that for the probation period of three years the payment would be 70 percent for first year, 80 percent for the second year and 90 percent for the third year was fixed which earlier was 100 percent for the two years of Probation. 5. Subsequent to the advertisement dated 8.5.2020, the State Government had published the Finance Order No.21/2020, dated 29.7.2020 (Annexure P-1). Vide the said Finance Order, the State Government amended sub-rule 1 of Rule 8 of the Chhattisgarh Civil Services (General Conditions of Service) Rules, 1961 (henceforth shall be referred to as "The Rules of 1961"). By way of the amendment to the Rules of 1961, the State Government had enhanced the period of probation of new recruits from 2 years to 3 years. At the same time, the State Government also amended sub- rule 1 of Rule 22(c) of the Fundamental Rules, prescribing the stipend payable to government servants selected by way of direct recruitment. In terms of the amendment made to the Fundamental Rules, during the probation period of 3 years, the Government servant would get payment of 70% for the first year, 80% for the second year and 90% 7 for the third year and on successful completion of the 3 years' probation period, the employee would get 100% payment. This action on the part of the respondents is under challenge through the present Writ Petition. 6. That subsequently vide finance order 22/2020 dated 06/08/2020 issued by the Finance Department, Government of Chhattisgah, it was informed that the Finance order 21/2020 has been brought which has changed the conditions of the pay and the probation period. The respondent authorities have made the amendment in the sub-rule (1) of rule 8 of Chhattisgarh Civil Services (General Condition of Services) Rules, 1961 and the probationary period of the Petitioners was increased from 2 years to 8 years. Moreover, by the way of the same finance onder the amendment was also done in the Sub Rule (1) of rule 22C of the Fundamental Rules and the amount of the stipend to be paid to the government servants selected by the way of direct recruitment was amended for the probation period of three years as per which the payment of 70 percent for first year, 80 percent for the second year and 90 percent for the third year was fixed which carier was 100 percent for the two years of Probation. It is important to mention here that all these changes were made after the advertisement was issued and all the terms and conditions of the posts of the direct recruitment was specifically clarified. Copy of the finance order 21/2020 dated 29/07/2020 and finance order 22/2020 dated 06/08/2020. 7. The challenge by the Petitioners is on the ground that when the 8 recruitment has been done in terms of the Advertisement dated 23.01.20190, the probation period as well as the payment payable to a probationer should be according to the rules prevailing on the date of the Advertisement, i.e, on 23.01.2019. It is also the contention of the Petitioners that the recruitment has been made on the post of Medical Officer by way of a direct recruitment and the service conditions governing the field are the Chhattisgarh Assitant Professors. The respondent State to fix the payscale of the petitioners as per the Chhattisgarh Shaikshanik Seva (Mahavidyalayin Shakha, Rajpatrit) Bharti Niyam 2019. According to the Petitioners, during the currency of the recruitment process, the rules of the game cannot be changed, which is detrimental to the interest of the Petitioners, and on this ground also, the Petition deserves to be allowed and the Petitioners should be granted a suitable and appropriate relief. 8. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State would submit that the issue involved in the present case has already been decided in WP(S) No.2090 of 2021 (Dr. Nikita Gupta and Ors. vs. State of Chhattisgarh and Ors.) vide order dated 10.6.2021 and the said order has been affirmed by the Division Bench in W.A. No.52 of 2022. 9. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the documents present on the record. 10. The issue involved in the present case has already been decided in Writ Appeal No. 52 of 2022, wherein the following observations were made in paragraphs 26, 28 & 29:- “26. While it is correct as contended by Mr. Rohit 9 Sharma that some of the persons selected were appointed prior to issuance of Notification dated 28.07.2020 and thus, are enjoying the benefit of salary as well as probation period of two years, the same cannot be a ground to extend such benefit to the persons who were appointed after issuance of the Notification dated 28.07.2020. Applicability of the amendment would depend on the date of appointment. So far as grant of relaxation to Doctors are concerned, it is the stand taken by the State that there was overwhelming necessity for recruitment of Doctors in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and as there was reluctance to join government service with changed conditions due to the amendment, to meet the exigency of the situation, recourse was taken to relax the rules for the Doctors. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Doctors had a pivotal role to play during the Covid-19 pandemic and they were aptly called as Covid- 19 warriors. In view of the extraordinary situation created by Covid-10 pandemic, no fault can be found in granting relaxation to the 10 Doctors in large public interest for combating the situation and the petitioners, in the circumstances, cannot claim parity with the Doctors. 28. The petition filed by the aspirants is not maintainable as the same has been filed on a contingent condition that if petitioners get appointed in future against any Government Post, they will get stipend for three years. In our opinion no cause of action had arisen for petitioners aspiring for recruitment to government service. 29. In the light of the above discussion and the judgments passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, we do not find violation of Articles 14 or 21 of the Constitution of India or any unreasonableness, arbitrariness in the decision making process whereby the impugned amendments have been brought and executive instructions for implementation of the amended Rules had been
Decision
issued. Therefore, all the writ petitions fail and are hereby dismissed. No order as to costs.”g the situation and the petitioners, in the circumstances, cannot claim parity with the Doctors. 11 11. Taking into consideration the above stated facts and taking note of order dated 10.3.2023 passed in WA No. 52, this Court can not take a different view, which has been taken by the Hon’ble Division Bench of this Court. 12. Accordingly, this petition fails and it is accordingly dismissed. Sd/- (Amitendra Kishore Prasad) Judge Raghu Jat