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Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P(C) No. 17555 of 2019 Susanta Kumar Patra Petitioner Mr.Sanjib Mohanty, Adv. …. State of Odisha & others …. -versus- Opposite Parties Mr. G.R.Mohapatra, ASC CORAM: DR. JUSTICE S.K. PANIGRAHI Order No. ORDER 28.07.2023 06 1. This matter is taken up through hybrid arrangement. 2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and
Legal Reasoning
learned counsel for the State. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has filed this writ petition challenging the cancellation of appointment order dated 17.08.2019 vide Annexure-9 passed by the opposite party No.2/Collector-Cum-District Magistrate, jajpur. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Collector-cum-DPC, Jajpur made an advertisement through District Rural Development Agency (in short, ‘DRDA’), Jajpur inviting application for recruitment to the post of Multi-purpose Assistants( Grama Rozgar Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: LINGARAJ BEHERA Designation: Sr. Stenographer Reason: eMudhra.App.Views.PartialControls.SigningModeTab.SigningTabVie wModel Location: Orissa High Court Date: 01-Aug-2023 11:18:35 Page 1 of 5 // 2 // Sevak) under the scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for Hatibari Gram Panchayata. In the said advertisement, one of the requirements was filing of the attested copy of Resident Certificate. However, there was no stipulation regarding the period of issuance of Resident Certificate. The petitioner has filed Resident Certificate dated 27.12.2017 under Annexure-6. The last date of submission of application was on 08.09.2017. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that nine candidates including the present petitioner applied for the post. Thereafter the opposite party No.3 prepared a list in order to ascertain the comparative merit of the candidates. The petitioner was placed in the merit list having secured 43.50 percentage of mark. It was uploaded in the website inviting objections. Thereafter objections were also invited for omission and commission, if any, in the provisional merit list. However, since there was no objection received from anybody by 10.12.2017, the opposite party No.3/Project Director, District Rural Development Agency, Jajpur issued a letter to the petitioner for verification of original documents for contractual engagement of GRS in Hatibari gram Panchayat of Sukinda. Accordingly, the petitioner submitted all the original documents. After Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: LINGARAJ BEHERA Designation: Sr. Stenographer Reason: eMudhra.App.Views.PartialControls.SigningModeTab.SigningTabVie wModel Location: Orissa High Court Date: 01-Aug-2023 11:18:35 Page 2 of 5 // 3 // duly verification, the DRDA, Jajpur issued a letter vide No.356 dated 18.01.2018 for engagement of the petitioner as Gram Rozgar Sevak and accordingly, he joined on 20.01.2018 and discharged his duty. 6. It is further submitted that though no objection was received from anybody on or before 10.12.2017, but opposite party No.4 namely, Biswajit Patra, all of a sudden, filed a case vide W.P.(C) No. 5083 of 2018 before this Court wherein he has prayed for consideration of his representation which was pending before the Collector, Jajpur on the ground of invalid Resident Certificate submitted by the petitioner. 7. It is further submitted that the said Writ Petition was heard and disposed of on 12.04.2018 with direction to Collector, Jajpur to consider the representation of the opposite party No.4. Though the Collector entertained his representation pursuant to the order dated 12.04.2018 passed in W.P.(C) No. 5083 of 2018, the present petitioner was not noticed by the Collector which is a blatant violation to the principle of natural justice since she was likely to be affected by the order of this Court. 8. Per contra, learned counsel for the opposite party No.3 submits that as per Notification dated 31st March, 2017 issued by the Revenue Disaster Management the Principal Secretary to Government of Odisha, Revenue Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: LINGARAJ BEHERA Designation: Sr. Stenographer Reason: eMudhra.App.Views.PartialControls.SigningModeTab.SigningTabVie wModel Location: Orissa High Court Date: 01-Aug-2023 11:18:35 Page 3 of 5 // 4 // and Disaster Management has issued a guideline regarding validity of the residential certificate and the said Resolution made by the Revenue & Disaster Management department suggests that 6. Order on the application:- “(5) The validity of resident, income and solvency certificate shall be one year from the date of its issue whereas legal heir and guardianship certificate shall be permanent in nature unless modified or cancelled by orders of Competent Authority. The certificate issued by the revenue Officers under these rules shall be accepted by all required authorities.” From the above, it is presumed that the Resolution 9. was available with the Project Director, DRDA Jajpur at the time of issuing the advertisement. The Project Director, DRDA Jajpur was supposed to mention the mandate of the Resolution passed by the Government in the advertisement itself and the details of the validity about the residential certificate. Hence, the advertisement was not a valid advertisement. It is the duty of the employer to clarify everything in the advertisement itself. A candidate applying for the post may not have detailed information about the existence of Rules, Resolutions etc. about such validity of residential certificate. Nothing prevented the Authority to write a line about the validity of certificate and the date of its issue. Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: LINGARAJ BEHERA Designation: Sr. Stenographer Reason: eMudhra.App.Views.PartialControls.SigningModeTab.SigningTabVie wModel Location: Orissa High Court Date: 01-Aug-2023 11:18:35 Page 4 of 5 // 5 // 10. Accordingly, though this Court is inclined to cancel the advertisement because of the non- incorporation of the spirit of the said clause in the advertisement, however, considering the fact that the petitioner has already spent five years in the said post, this Court does not think it proper to quash the advertisement and order for a fresh selection process. 11. In such view of the matter, the writ petition is allowed and order passed by the opposite party No.2/Collector-cum District Magistrate, Jajpur dated 17.08.2019 under Annexure-9 is set aside. 12. It is made clear that the Department of Panchayat Raj, Government of Odisha should include the spirit of Clause-6 of the Resolution dated 31st March, 2017 of Revenue & Disaster Management Department in all its advertisement for GRS in future. 13. A free copy of the order be given to the Secretary Panchayat Raj Department for necessary compliance. Judge (Dr. S.K. Panigrahi) LB Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: LINGARAJ BEHERA Designation: Sr. Stenographer Reason: eMudhra.App.Views.PartialControls.SigningModeTab.SigningTabVie wModel Location: Orissa High Court Date: 01-Aug-2023 11:18:35 Page 5 of 5