DHANANJAYA Y.CHANDRACHUD,J. - (1.) This appeal arises from a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka dated 17 November 2015. The High Court, while dismissing the Writ Appeal filed by the appellant, confirmed the judgment of a learned Single Judge dated 1 October 2015 holding that since there was a solitary post of a Lecturer in English, the appellant could not have been appointed to the post on the basis of reservation and that the fifth respondent, who was senior to the appellant, had a valid claim and entitlement to the post.
(2.) The appeal relates to the services of the appellant and the fifth respondent in an institution known as Sri Jagadaguru Annadaneshwari High School at Mundaragi, Gadag District of the State of Karnataka. The fifth respondent was appointed as a teacher on 2 November 1988 and is senior to the appellant, who was appointed on 1 December 1990. The appellant belongs to a Scheduled Caste. On the retirement of the then incumbent Lecturer in English on 31 March 2002, the post fell vacant. The appellant was promoted to the post on 28 September 2002 on the basis of roster points. The appointment of the appellant was approved by the Director of Pre-University Education on 28 September 2002. The fifth respondent challenged the approval initially by filing a writ petition before the Karnataka High Court. By an order dated 2 March 2005, the fifth respondent was relegated to the remedy of a revision before the Director of Pre-University Education, Bangalore. The revision and a further review came to be dismissed by the Director of Pre-University Education on 3 May 2006 and by the Commissioner on 23 February 2007. The Government of Kerala dismissed the appeal filed by the fifth respondent on 12 November 2008. The fifth respondent then moved the High Court in a writ petition under Article 226 which was allowed by a judgment of the learned Single Judge dated 1 October 2015. The learned Single Judge held that the post of Lecturer in English was a solitary post and in view of the law laid down by this Court in State of Karnataka vs. K. Govindappa, (2009) 1 SCC 1, the post could not have been reserved. This view of the learned Single Judge was approved in a writ appeal by the Division Bench on 17 November 2015 which gave rise to the proceedings before this Court.
(3.) At the outset, it would be necessary to note that the decision of the two-Judge Bench of this Court in K Govindappa (supra), which has been followed by the learned Single Judge as well as by the Division Bench in appeal, dealt with the issue as to whether all posts of Lecturers taken together constituted a cadre for the purpose of reservation or whether a solitary post of Lecturer in History which was not interchangeable with other posts constituted a separate cadre. The High Court held that the post of a Lecturer in History could not be construed to be a cadre together with all other posts of Lecturer. This Court noted that the Constitution Bench in Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research v Faculty Association, (1998) 4 SCC 1 had approved the view in Dr. Chakradhar Paswan v State of Bihar, (1988) 2 SCC 214 to the effect that there could be no reservation in respect of a single post. This was, however, sought to be distinguished by the State in K Govindappa (supra). This Court held: "While there can be no difference of opinion that the expressions "cadre", "post" and "service" cannot be equated with each other, at the same time the submission that single and isolated posts in respect of different disciplines cannot exist as a separate cadre cannot be accepted. In order to apply the rule of reservation within a cadre, there has to be plurality of posts. Since there is no scope of inter- changeability of posts in the different disciplines, each single post in a particular discipline has to be treated as a single post for the purpose of reservation within the meaning of Article 16(4) of the Constitution. In the absence of duality of posts, if the rule of reservation is to be applied, it will offend the constitutional bar against 100% reservation as envisaged in Article 16(1) of the Constitution." (emphasis supplied) ;