- (1.) Leave granted. Heard Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, learned Counsel for the Appellants, Mr. Sunil Gupta, learned senior Counsel for Respondent No. 6, Mr. A.D.N. Rao, learned Counsel for the Archaeological Survey of India, Mr. Bharat Singh, learned Counsel for the Ministry of Tourism and Mr. M.R. Shamshad, learned Counsel for Respondent No. 3.
(2.) The sum and substance of the grievance of the Appellants, who are State Level Guides, who were issued with licences under the Guidelines of Department of Tourism, Government of India of the year 2003, is that when it came to the question of renewal of their licences and its rejection, reliance was placed upon Paragraph 3.1.5 of the Guidelines for the Selection and Grant of Guide License to Regional Level Tourist Guides, 2011 (for short "the 2011 Guidelines") which came to be introduced on 22nd September, 2011. By relying upon the aforesaid Paragraph, the claims of the Appellants for renewal of their licences were rejected holding that the earlier Guidelines of the year 2003 were superseded.
(3.) In fact, that very issue was noted by the authorities of the Ministry of Tourism themselves, on whose behalf, an additional affidavit came to be filed in this Court on 25th August, 2010, sworn to by one Sanjay Singh in his capacity as ADG(T) and who was authorized to file the said additional affidavit on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism. In Paragraph 7 of the said affidavit, it was specifically stated that the revised Guidelines shall not have retrospective effect and that all the past actions on Guides shall be governed by the Guidelines of 2003 and 2007 as and when they were in operation.;