- (1.) All the three petitioners belong to Scheduled Caste category and are in private jobs. They had applied for the post of Head Teacher in primary schools pursuant to an advertisement dated December 27, 2013 published for 2513 posts. It is averred that the petitioners have suffered on account of their higher merits compared to those of Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) Category and General Category candidates and, thereby, lost a chance marginally.
(2.) It is also their say that 48 vacancies have remained unfilled still in this category and yet a fresh advertisement has been published by the Gujarat Primary School Head Teacher Selection Committee for appointment of Head Teachers. Thus, a challenge is also made to the advertisement dated December 08, 2014 which, according to the petitioner, could not have been advertised unless 48 vacancies in the earlier round were filled in.
(3.) The total number of vacancies as per the advertisement dated December 27, 2013 by the Director of Primary Education, State of Gujarat, was 2513 seats. The petitioners have completed their qualifications of B.A., M.A., B.Ed. and M.Phil and have passed the Head Teacher Aptitude Test (hereinafter referred to as 'HTAT'). It is their say that the waiting list was also made. The total number of seats remained vacant were 876 and in the reserved category 48 posts remained vacant. According to the petitioners, for the General Category the cut off marks were 58.55% and for Scheduled Caste category, the same was 60.43%, whereas for SEBC category, it was 55.11%. In all three categories i.e. in General, Scheduled Caste and SEBC, the number of posts remained vacant, after the cut off marks, were 380, 48 and 160 respectively. It is their grievance that when the merit marks of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste were comparatively higher to those belong to the General Category, the new advertisement on December 08, 2014, could not have been issued for 2467 seats as 48 posts still remained vacant and such vacancies ought to have been filled up. According to the petitioners, they lost their chance due to inequality in the merit marks when in fact the merit marks of Scheduled Caste Category candidates were much higher. Therefore, by preferring present petition, they have sought for issuance of a writ of mandamus and other appropriate writ for setting aside the impugned advertisement dated December 27, 2013, as also the advertisement dated December 08, 2014 and the proceedings undertaken pursuant to such advertisement dated December 08, 2014, are also sought to be stayed.;