D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 5504 of 2004. Case: Kallash Chandra Harijan Vs State of Rajasthan and Ors.. Rajasthan High Court
| Case Number | D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 5504 of 2004 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Rajendra Soni and Sanjay Pareek, Advs. And For Respondents: B.P. Agarwal, Adv. General, Bharat Vyas, Addl. Adv. General, Manish Bhandari and Rakesh Kumar, Advs. And For Rajasthan Public Service Commission: S.N. Kumawat, Adv. |
| Judges | S.N. Jha, C.J. and Vineet Kothari, J. |
| Issue | Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Act, 1959; Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Service Rules, 1959; Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 - Sections 89, 89(1), 89(2) and 90; Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2000; Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2004 - 89(1); Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996 - Rule 266; ... |
| Citation | RLW 2006 (2) Raj 1700 |
| Judgement Date | January 23, 2006 |
| Court | Rajasthan High Court |
Judgment:
S.N. Jha, C.J., (Jaipur Bench)
1. The dispute in this group of writ petitions being the same they were heard together and are disposed of by this common order.
2. It may be stated at the out set that the petitions were allowed earlier on 25.11.2004 vide judgment reported in 2005(1) RLR 474. On application of the State, however, vide order dated 1.6.2005 the judgment was recalled in D.B. Civil Review Petition No. 449/2005 (def) and analogous, and the petitions were restored for hearing on merits. That is how the petitions came up for hearing.
3. D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 5504/2004 was argued as the representative case and facts of the case, therefore, have been noticed from the record of that case.
4. The dispute relates to appointment of B.Ed. Teachers on the post of Teacher Grade HI in upper primary schools in the State of Rajasthan.
5. Before stating the case of the petitioners it would be appropriate to briefly notice the scheme of recruitment of teachers in primary schools in the State of Rajasthan. The service conditions of teachers including recruitment in primary schools in the rural areas were earlier governed by the Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Act, 1959 and the Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Service Rules, 1959 framed thereunder. The teachers in the primary schools situate in urban areas had a different cadre. The Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Act, 1959 was replaced by the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994. Section 89 of the said Act provides for constitution of the State service called the Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Service. The service originally comprised of, amongst others, primary school teachers mentioned in Clause (iii) of Sub-section (2) of Section 89. By Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2000 (Act 9 of 2000), among other amendments, Clause (iii) was amended substituting 'primary and upper primary schools' in place of 'primary schools'. Thus, the Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Service now comprises of, among other categories, primary and upper primary school teachers. Sub-section (1) of Section 89 was amended by the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2004 (Act 8 of 2004) by inserting a proviso providing for selection for the post specified in Clause (iii) of Sub-section (2) i.e., the post of primary and upper primary school teachers at the State level in place of district level as originally provided in Sub-section (1). A new Sub-section (6A) was also inserted providing for appointment of primary and upper primary school teachers by direct recruitment by the Panchayat Samiti or Zila Parishad, as the case may be, in accordance with the rules made in that behalf by the State Government from out of the persons selected for the post by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission in accordance with the rules made by the State Government in that behalf. By virtue of these amendments Section 89, as it now stands, reads as under:
89. Constitution of the Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Service.-There shall be constituted for the State service designated as the Rajasthan Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad Service and hereafter in this section referred to as the service and recruitment thereto shall be made district-wise.
Provided that the selection for the post specified in Clause (iii) of Sub-section (2) shall be made at the State level.
(2) The service may be divided into different categories, each category being divided into different grades, and shall consist of-
(i)...
(ii)...
(iii) primary and upper primary school teachers
(iv)...
(3)...
(4)...
(5)...
(6)...
(6A) Appointment by direct recruitment on the posts specified in Clause (iii) of Sub-section (2) shall be made by Panchayat Samiti or Zila Parishad, as the case may be, in accordance with the rules made in this behalf by the State Government, from out of the persons selected for the posts by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission in accordance with the rules made by the State Government in this behalf.
Provided that in case of the posts reserved for widows and divorcee women, selection shall be made in such manner and by such Screening Committee as may be prescribed by the State Government;
6. It would not be out of place to mention here that these amendments were made in the light of challenge to the direct recruitment undertaken by the State Government which had come in under challenge in this Court at Jaipur Bench in the case of Rugha Ram v. State of Rajasthan S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 4583/2003. The petition was disposed of on the statement of the Advocate General to the effect that the entire process of selection on the post of teacher grade III would be reviewed. This led to promulgation of Rajasthan Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004 on 28.2.2004 later replaced by Rajasthan Act No. 8. of 2004, referred to above.
7. Section 90 of the Panchayati Raj Act was also suitably amended but it may not be necessary to notice those amendments for disposal of these writ petitions.
8. On 28.2.2004 the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996 was also correspondingly amended. Among other amendments, Rule 266 which provides for the educational qualification for recruitment on various posts was amended adding the qualification of B.Ed. as an alternate qualification of BSTC - as originally provided. The rule as amended, so far as relevant, runs as under:
266. Academic qualifications.-A recruit must possess minimum qualification as under:-
(1)
(2)
(3) Primary School (i) Senior Secondary under new (10 + 2)
Teacher (100% by direct scheme or Higher Secondary under old
recruitment) scheme from Rajasthan Board of
Secondary Education or equivalent and
Secondary School Certificate from
Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education
or equivalent with 5 subjects, 3 of them
shall be Mathematics, English and Hindi.
(ii) B.S.T.C./B.Ed.
Provided that for appointment of widow
and divorce woman on the posts of
teacher, required qualification of BSTC/
B.Ed. Shall be relaxed, if they are
competent otherwise and they submit a
bond to the effect that they will obtain the
qualification of B.S.T.C./B.Ed. within a
period of three years. They shall be
entitled to receive leave for study to get
B.S.T.C./B.Ed. qualification soon after
their appointment.
9. Insertion/prescription of B.Ed. as a qualification for recruitment in primary schools, among other things, has given rise to the controversy which is subject matter of these writ petitions.
10. At this stage it may be mentioned that the aforesaid amendments in the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 and the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996 were challenged in a number of writ petitions which were...
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