Pet it ioners v. St at e of Ut t arakhand Ot hers

challenged t he said advert isem ent , issued on

14.10.2023, on t he ground t hat sufficient num ber of vacancies is not m ade available for persons belonging t o Scheduled Cast e cat egory. The reliefs sought in WPSS No. 2190 of 2023 are as under: “ I . To issue a writ , order or direct ion in t he nat ure of “ Cert iorari” quashing t he advert isem ent bearing no. A- I / JE( DR) / E- 4/ 2023- 23, dat ed 14.10.2023, issued by t he respondent no. 5 ( Annexure 1 t o t he Writ Pet it ion) . I I . To t he issue a writ , order or “ Mandam us” nat ure direct ion com m anding t he respondent s no. 1 t o 4 t o send supplem ent ary requisit ion t o t he respondent no. 5 and add sufficient num bers of vacancies belonging 1 t o “ scheduled cast e cat egory” for t he post of Junior Engineer ( Civil) , by applying correct roast er syst em and by applying t he reservat ion at t he rat e of 19% against t he exist ing vacancies in t heir respect ive depart m ent s. I I I . To issue a writ , order or direct ion in t he nat ure of “ Mandam us” direct ing t he respondent no. 5 t o add t he addit ional num ber of vacancies which are t o be supplied by t he depart m ent s of respondent s no. 1 t o 4, in t he advert isem ent bearing no. A- I / JE( DR) / E- 4/ 2023- 23, dat ed 14.10.2023 t he post of Junior Engineer ( Civil) for t he candidat es belonging t o “ Scheduled Cast e” cat egory.”

2. Learned St at e Counsel by referring t o Ent ry No. 1 of t he Tabular chart given Paragraph No. 6 of t he count er affidavit , filed by Jai Lal Sharm a, Joint Secret ary, on behalf of respondent no. 1, subm it s t hat originally t here were 815 sanct ioned post of Junior Engineer ( Civil) I rrigat ion Depart m ent , however aft er rest ruct uring in 2023, t he num ber of sanct ioned post of Junior Engineer ( Civil) was reduced t o 596, as is reflect ed at Ent ry No. 4 of t he said chart . He subm it s t hat due t o rest ruct uring, t he num ber of post s reserved for persons belonging t o Scheduled Cast e cat egory was reduced from 155 t o 113. He refers t o para 12 of t he said count er affidavit for cont ending t hat since 115 persons belonging t o Scheduled Cast e cat egory are already serving as Junior Engineer ( Civil) in I rrigat ion Depart m ent , as against 113 post s reserved for t hem , t herefore, no post reserved for Scheduled Cast e cat egory was indicat ed as reserved in t he requisit ion sent t o t he Ut t arakhand Public Service Com m ission. Para 12 of t he count er affidavit is ext ract ed below: 2 “ 12. That t he cont ent s of para no. 8 of writ pet it ion need no com m ent s. That , t he cont ent s of Para 9 of writ pet it ion are wrong hence denied. I t is pert inent t o m ent ion here t hat t here is no illegalit y in sending t he requisit ion of vacant post s t o Ut t arakhand Public Service com m ission. As explained above let t er dat ed 09.02.2023 t ot al approved post s of j unior engineer civil including t he requisit ion of 75 post s in relat ion t o t he post s working/ available from t he first day of recruit m ent year 2023- 24 is 521+ 75 = 596. Since t here are already 115 no. of working post s for SC cat egory against 113 no. of reserved post s for SC cat egory as per rules, t here are no vacant post s for Scheduled Cast e Cat egory and Schedule Tribe cat egory against t he t ot al approved post s and t here is no int ent ion of depriving candidat es belonging t o t he Schedule Cast e cat egory from t he recruit m ent process.” in governm ent

3. The st at em ent m ade in para 12 of t he count er affidavit has not been rebut t ed by t he pet it ioner t he reply affidavit . Thus t he st at em ent m ade in para 12 of t he count er affidavit cannot be disbelieved, even t hough learned Senior Counsel for t he pet it ioners orally disput es t he said st at em ent .

4. Persons belonging t o weaker sect ions of societ y are ent it led t o reservat ion in public services and post s, however t he ext ent of reservat ion has t o be det erm ined wit h reference t o t he reservat ion policy. Respondent s subm it t ed t hat not only sufficient num ber of post s are held by persons belonging t o Scheduled Cast e cat egory, but reservat ion provided t o persons belonging t o Scheduled Cast e is in excess of t he reservat ion quot a m eant for t hem .

5. I n such view of t he m at t er, t he challenge t hrown t o t he advert isem ent only on t he ground t hat sufficient num ber of vacancies was not reserved for persons belonging t o Scheduled 3 Cast e cat egory cannot be sust ained. There cannot be any direct ion t o t he aut horit ies t o provide m ore reservat ion t o persons belonging t o Scheduled Cast e cat egory t han what is provided t o t hem under t he policy.

6. Even ot herwise also, aft er applying pursuant t o t he advert isem ent dat ed 14.10.2023 wit h eyes wide open, pet it ioners cannot challenge t he selfsam e advert isem ent by filing a writ pet it ion. They cannot approbat e and reprobat e sim ult aneously.

7. For t he aforesaid reasons, t here is no scope for int erference. Writ pet it ions fail and are dism issed. ( M a n o j K u m a r Ti w a r i , J.) 1 7 .1 2 .2 0 2 5 Pr PRABODH KUMAR DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=3a082a00a95aff911a9559743af8f21c50602ff6eae4e61af3aeab198d46250 3, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=0DC111E8D8CA66E16B940EFDF806ACCC1AB588052DF6FCA58C67 F3C91957BE53, cn=PRABODH KUMAR 4