The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK W.P.(C) No.28367 of 2019 Himansu Sekhar Meher …. Petitioner Mr. B.C. Ghadei, Advocate -versus- State of Odisha & Ors. …. Opposite Parties Mr. S. Jena, AGA Mr. A. Mohanty, Advocate (Opp. Party No. 6) CORAM: JUSTICE BIRAJA PRASANNA SATAPATHY ORDER 07.02.2024 Order No 13. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual/Physical) Mode.
Legal Reasoning
2. Heard Mr. B.C. Ghadei, learned counsel for the Petitioner, Mr. S. Jena, learned Addl. Govt. Advocate appearing for the State and Mr. A. Mohanty, learned counsel appearing for Opp. Party No. 6. 3. The Petitioner has filed the present writ petition inter ala with the following prayer:- “It is, therefore, prayed that, in the premises stated above this Hon’ble Court may be graciously pleased to admit this case, issue notice to the Opposite Parties and after hearing all the Parties to this writ petition, may further be pleased to declare the selection of opposite party no. 6 as void and illegal, as per the order dated 06.12.2019 of the Collector Nuapada, vide Annexure-1 to this writ petition; And may further be pleased to direct the Opposite Parties to select and appoint the Petitioner as Contractual // 2 // Hindi Teacher as per the advertisement vide Annexure-2 to this writ petition; And may order/orders, direction/directions as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper. other pass any And for this act of kindness as in duty bound the petitioner shall ever pray.” 4. It is the main contention of the Petitioner that the certificate produced by Opp. Party No. 6 towards his qualification Rastrabhasa Shastri at the time of his selection and appointment to the post of Hindi Teacher vide order dtd.06.12.2018 under Annexure-1 so obtained from Odisha Rashtra Bhasa Parishad, Jagannath Dham, Puri was not a genuine one, as it was issued by an in-competent authority. It is contended that basing on such nature of certificate, Opp. Party No. 6 could not have selected and appointed vide order under Annexure-1 in terms of the selection process initiated under Annexure-2. 4.1. It is contended that Odisha Rashtra Bhasa Parishad since was blacklisted by the order of the IGR pursuant to the order passed by this Court on 01.09.2014 in W.P.(C) No. 14846 of 2014, Opp. Party No. 6 since obtained the certificate with regard to his acquiring the qualification of Rashtra Bhasa Shastri from Odisha Rashtra Bhasa Parishad, such a certificate could not have been accepted by the concerned authority while selecting and appointing Opp. Party No. 6 vide order under Annexure-1. In support of the stand that the Institution was blacklisted vide order of the IGR, learned counsel for the Petitioner relied on the order passed by the IGR under Annexure-8. It is contended that since in terms of the order passed by the IGR under Annexure-8 the Institution was blacklisted, Page 2 of 6 // 3 // certificate produced by Opp. Party No. 6 from Odisha Rastra Bhasa Parishad could not have been accepted while selecting him as against the post of contractual Hindi Teacher vide Annexure-1. It is accordingly contended that selection and appointment of Opp. Party No. 6 as Hindi Teacher pursuant to Annexure-2 be set aside. 5. Learned State Counsel as well as learned counsel appearing for Opp. Party No. 6 on the other hand contended that vide order under Annexure-8, the Institution was never blacklisted and the issue before the IGR was with regard to acceptance of the amendment to the bylaw of the society. It is accordingly contended that since the Institution from which Opp. Party No. 6 obtained the certificate towards his acquiring the qualification of Rashtra Bhasa Shastri was never blacklisted, which is the main ground of challenge to the selection and appointment of Opp. Party No. 6, the prayer as made
Decision
in the writ petition is not entertainable. 6. Learned Addl. Govt. Advocate relied on the stand taken in the counter affidavit filed by Opp. Party Nos. 2 & 5. The stand taken in Para 6 & 8 of the counter so filed by Opp. Party Nos. 2 & 5 are reproduced hereunder:- “6. That, in reply to the assertions made at Paragraph No.3 (C) of the Writ Petition, this deponent humbly begs to submit that particularly with respect to the marks secured by the Petitioner is much more than the present O.P.No.06 as is mentioned in the final merit list under Annexure-5 in the writ application is, utterly false, absolutely baseless and purely out of context. A careful perusal of the marks of both the candidates would reveal that the O.P.No.06 has been placed at Serial No.03 with a total percentage of marks as 216.63, whereas the Petitioner who is placed at Serial No.09 has secured a total percentage of marks as 187.04, which is far less than that of the present O.P.No.06 and thus the O.P.No.06 having secured the 3rd place in the merit list has Page 3 of 6 // 4 // been rightly selected. Thus, prima facie the claim of the Petitioner is wrong and baseless which is apparent on the face of the record. xxx xxx xxx issued by 8. That, in reply to the assertions made at Paragraph No.10 of the Writ Petition, this deponent humbly begs to submit that the Petitioner has made frivolous allegations against the present O.P.No.06 without any iota of evidence and in absence of such lack of supporting materials, the plea of the Petitioner is deemed to be an argument without basis. Besides the clarification regarding genuineness of Shastri two different signatories, Odisha certificate Rastrabhasa Parishad, Puri issued by the office of the Principal, Govt. Hindi Teacher's Training Institute, Cuttack vide his Memo No.49/Dated 10.01.2019 to the District Letter Welfare Officer, Keonjhar No.14/Welfare/Dtd.02.01.2019 of the Collector, Keonjhar may be perused, where in its is clearly mentioned that, no restraint has been issued at least till 10.09.2019 by any authority on the organisation “Odisha Rastrabhasa Parishad, Puri” from where Sri Manas Ranjan Pandey (Opposite Party No.06) has obtained the Hindi Pass (Shastri) Certificate, It may be appropriate to mention here that, opposite party No.06 has obtained the Shastri Certificate in 2015, four(04) years prior to 2019.” reply to in 7. To the submission by learned State Counsel and learned counsel appearing for Opp. Party No. 6, learned counsel for the Petitioner relied on the counter filed by Opp. Party No. 3. Opp. Party No. 3 in Para 5 of the counter has taken a stand that pursuant to the order passed by the IGR, Odisha Rashtra Bhasa Parishad, Puri has been blacklisted. The stand taken by Opp. Party No. 3 in Para 5 of the counter is reproduced hereunder:- “That, it is humbly submitted that, the petitioner had obtain certificate from the Odisha Rastrabhasa Parishad, Puri & after verification it is known that, the said institution has been black listed. So any certificate issued by that Page 4 of 6 // 5 // institution is declared to be fake. But the petitioner has stated that the said institution is authentic one as the IGR-cum- Registered Society has given the certificate that Institution has been validly registered vide m Order date: 11.06.2015, in reply to this it is specifically stated that the registration of the institution under Society Registration Act by the IGR-cum- Register Society is not conferred any right to issue the academic certificate. The academic certificate e degree or diploma can be issued by the institution which is empowered by the Government Public University or UGC. So this institution has not been given any authority by any of the authorized body. So the B.Ed. Certificate obtained from this institution has lost its validity and the petitioner claiming to be trained graduate (Hindi) is a false and frivolous. So the certificate being the fake certificate the petitioner has no right to get the job as a contractual teacher. So the writ petition is liable to be rejected.” 8. To the stand taken in the counter so filed by Opp. Party No. 3, learned Addl. Govt. Advocate contended that Opp. Party No. 3 is not competent to take such a stand as the advertisement in question was issued by the ST & SC Development Department. In the counter filed by the Department as well as Collector, a specific stand has been taken that till 10.09.2019 Odisha Rashtra Bhasa Parishad, Puri has not been restrained from issuing any such certificate in favour of Opp. Party No. 6. 9. Having heard learned counsel appearing for the Parties and after going through the materials available on record, this Court finds that Petitioner challenges the selection and appointment of Opp. Party No. 6 as a Hindi Teacher on the plea that the Institution from which Opp. Party No. 6 obtained the certificate with regard to his Page 5 of 6 // 6 // acquiring the qualification of Rashtra Bhasa Shastri was blacklisted in terms of the order passed by the IGR and accordingly such a certificate should not have been accepted. This Court after going through the order passed under Annexure-8 is of the view that the issue before the IGR was with regard to amendment to the bylaw of society. The stand taken by the Petitioner that the Institution was blacklisted and accordingly no such certificate could have been issued by Odisha Rashtra Bhasa Parishad in favour of Opp. Party No. 6 is not at all acceptable as in the order under Annexure-8, Odisha Rastra Bhasa Parishad has never been blacklisted. Since it is found that Opp. Party No. 6 has been duly selected and appointed having secured more mark than the present Petitioner, this Court finds no illegality or irregularity with regard to such selection of Opp. Party No. 6. Accordingly, this Court is not inclined to entertain the writ petition and dismiss the same. (Biraja Prasanna Satapathy) Judge Sneha Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SNEHANJALI PARIDA Designation: Sr. Stenographer Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack Date: 12-Feb-2024 11:27:08 Page 6 of 6