High Court
Case Details
WP(C) 5258/2013 BEFORE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE T. VAIPHEI HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE P.K. SAIKIA JUDGMENT AND ORDER
Facts
1. The sole question which falls for consideration in this writ petition is whether the holder of Stenography Certificate issued by the Ministry of Labo ur. Government of India is eligible for appointment to the post of Stenographer Grade-III? Aggrieved by the decision of the Selection Board for selection of Ste nographer-III holding it otherwise, this writ petition has been filed by the pet itioner. 2. The case of the petitioner is that he is a graduate in Political Science (Honours) and is also a holder of Stenography Certificate issued by the Ministr y of Labour, Government of India. It appears that the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour had launched a Coaching-cum-Guidance Centre for Scheduled Ca ste and Scheduled Tribes and carries out a special programme/training for appoin tment to the post of Stenographer/Clerk Typist or its equivalent posts. In that special programme, coaching is provided to persons belonging to these two commun ities in General English, General Knowledge, Elementary Arithmatic, Office Proce dures, Typewriting (English/Hindi) and Stenography in English. After undergoing such course, the petitioner was awarded the Stenography Certificate by the Gover nment of India in the Ministry of Labour with a shorthand speed of 80 W.P.M. and typewriting speed of 30 W.P.M. The petitioner has been engaged as Stenographer of the Chief Judicial Ma 3. gistrate, Kamrup on daily wages basis since 1-11-2012. It would further appear t hat the Office of the Chief Judicial Magistrate/Kamrup issued the advertisement dated 10-7-2012 inviting applications from suitable candidates having the requis ite qualifications and good knowledge in computer for filling up the single post of Stenographer Grade-III in the scale of pay of Rs.2,900/- per month in establ ishment of the Office of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup. In response to t his advertisement, the petitioner duly applied for the post. For recruitment of this post, a Selection Board comprising of five judicial Officers was duly const ituted. The scheme of the selection comprises of written tests in four subjects, namely, (i) General Knowledge; (ii) General Mathematics; (iii) Mental Ability a nd Reasoning and (iv) General English including Speed Test and Viva Voce. The pe titioner duly participated in the written test and viva voce. The result of the selection uploaded in the website of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup dated 6-8-2013 indicated that none of the eight candidates who participated in the ex amination were selected. 4. The petitioner thereafter submitted the application dated 8-8-2013 under the Right to Information Act seeking details on the result of the selection and
Legal Reasoning
7. Even on cursory look at the provisions reproduced above will unmistak ably show that the essential qualification is passing the speed test of 80 words per minute in English Stenography if a candidate has otherwise the educational qualification of passed PU/HSSLC or an equivalent examination of a recognised Un iversity or Board. There is no dispute that the petitioner has the academic qual ifications prescribed by Clause 1(2) of the Assam Rules. What prevented the Sele ction Board from considering his case is that he does not have the National Trad e Certificate in Stenography (English) awarded to the trainees from the Industri al Training Institutes in Assam by the National Council for vocational Trade aft er the Ist August, 1975 or a diploma in Stenography from Government recognised p olytechnic of the State. In our opinion, the Selection Board appears to have tak en a hyper-technical view of the matter in insisting only the National Trade Cer tificate issued by the designated institutes for more than one reason. What cann ot be overlooked is that the trade Certificate obtained by the petitioner is iss ued not by an unrecognized private institute or by some dubious institutes but b y no less an authority than the Project Director of Coaching-cum-Guidance Centre for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes under the Ministry of Labour, Government of India after he had undergone training in General English, General Knowledge, Office Procedure, Elementary Arithmatic, Typewriting (English/Hindi) and Stenogr aphy with a speed of 30 words per minute and 80 words per minute in short hand. Secondly, he has been working as Stenographer Grade-III in the Office of the Chi ef Judicial Magistrate on daily wage basis since 15-12-2012. There is no evidenc e that his service has since then been terminated by his employer on the ground of incompetence. In our considered view, the provisions of the Assam Rules need not be followed literally, which is evidenced by the fact that a number of modif ications have been made while making the actual application thereof in the ongoi ng recruitment process. Under the circumstances, we are of the view that the imp ugned decision of the Selection Board rejecting the candidature of the petitione r is illegal and also suffers from the vice of non-application of mind. 8. The result of the foregoing discussion is that this writ petition succee ds. The impugned decision of the respondent authorities disqualifying the petiti oner for the post of Stenographer Grade-III is hereby quashed. Consequently, the respondent authorities/Selection Board are directed to declare the result of th e petitioner in the ongoing selection process and consider the appointment of th e candidate to the post of Stenographer Grade-III, who is found to be the highes t in order of merit, without any further delay. No costs.
Arguments
a copy of the recommendation of the Selection Board and the resolution so passe d. On receipt of those papers, the petitioner examined the same and found that t he Board had disqualified the two candidates, namely, the petitioner himself and one Shri Prashanta Kr. Nath on the ground that they did not have the requisite qualification for appointment to the post of Stenographer Grade-III prescribed u nder Part-A of Schedule-I to the Assam Stenographers Service Rules, 1995 ( (cid:28)the A ssam Rules (cid:29) for short). Contending that the rejection of the candidature of the petitioner on such ground is arbitrary, irrational and illegal, the petitioner, therefore, prays for quashing of the recommendation of the Selection Board holdi ng him ineligible for the post of Stenographer Grade-III and then for directing the respondents to declare his result and that of the other disqualified candida te, namely, Shri Prasanta Kr. Nath and for appointing the candidate scoring the highest marks in the test to the post of Stenographer Grade-III. 5. It is contended by Mr. PK Tiwari, the learned counsel for the petitioner , that the qualification for Stenography held by the petitioner is equivalent to the one prescribed by the Assam Rules inasmuch as the petitioner was also requi red to undergo extensive training in six different subjects, namely, General Eng lish, General Knowledge, elementary Arithmetic, Office Procedures, Typewriting a nd stenography and pass the required speed of 80 WPM in English Stenography as e vident from the Certificate dated 20-7-2007 issued by the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour. It is thus the contention of the learned counsel for th e petitioner that to hold the petitioner to be not qualified for the post in the face of such Certificate is irrational and cannot be sustained in law. He also reminds us that the petitioner has been engaged by the Chief judicial Magistrate , Kamrup as his Stenographer on daily wage basis since 1-11-2012 and submits tha t this clearly demonstrates the competency of the petitioner for the post in que stion. In the course of motion hearing, Mr. UK Nair, the learned Standing Counse l for the High Court, entered his appearance on behalf of the High Court as well as the respondent No. 1 and 2 and was asked by us to obtain instruction as to w hether the Assam Rules is applicable for the impugned recruitment process and pl ace the same before us on 23-9-2013. On 23-9-2013, the learned Standing Counsel, on instructions, submits that the Assam Rules is applicable for recruitment of Stenographer Grade-III in the Office of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup. H e further submits that the petitioner has no requisite qualification for the pos t of Stenographer Grade-III under the Assam rules. 6. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the contentions made by t he learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel for the H igh Court. We have also carefully examined a copy of the proceedings of the Sele ction Board produced by the learned Standing counsel. Part-A of Schedule-I to th e Assam Rules adumbrates the qualification for direct recruitment to the post of Stenographer Grade-III, which is in the following terms: Qualification for direct recruitment to the following cadre of the service shall be as prescribed below? Stenographer Grade-III - (1) Passed PU/HSSLC or an equivalent examinatio 1. n of a recognised University or Board. Passed the speed test of 80 words per minute in English Stenography or i (2) n an Indian Language Stenography (Assamese/Bengali/Hindi) conducted by the Board . 2. The National Trade Certificate in Stenography (English) awarded to the t rainees from the Industrial Training Institutes in Assam by the National Council for vocational Trade after the Ist August, 1975 and diploma in stenography from Government recognised polytechnic of the State shall be recognised as the certi ficate of requisite qualification for the purpose of direct recruitment as Steno grapher Grade-III (English), provided the candidate possesses the requisite acad emic qualification as prescribed at paragraph 1(1) above. Provided further that this recognition shall remain in force till otherwi se directed by the Government: Provided further that in case there are more such candidate than t he number of vacancies, the Appointing Authority shall hold a test with a view t o judging the comparative merit of the candidates for making a selection. (cid:29) (Italics mine)