- (1.) SUDHIR Narain, J. The petitioner has challenged the order, dated 27-11-1991 issued by the Commissioner, Gorakhpur Division, Gorakhpur, respondent No. 3, reverting the. petitioner from the post of Stenographer Grade-1 to the post of Stenographer Grade-II.
(2.) THE facts, in brief, are that one Mahadev Prasad, Stenographer, Grade-I in the Collectorate Azamgarh retired on 31-7-1989 and on his retire ment a post of Stenographer fell vacant. THEn was another post of Stenographer, Grade II created under Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Budhanpur, district Azamgarh. Both these posts were advertised in the newspaper Hindi daily 'aaj' on 3-9-1989. The petitioner applied for appointment to the pest of Stenographer, Grade-I. The appointment and promotion to the post of Stenographer Grade-I is governed by U. P. District Office (Collectorate) Clerk Grade Service Rules, 1980. Rule 5 provides the source of recruitment. Rule 17 lays down that if no suitable Stenographer working on Grade-11 is available for promotion of -Stenographer Grade-I the appointment can be made by direct recruitment. Even for the purpose of promotion a Selection Committee has to consider the candidature of such-stenographer working on Grads-II The relevant Rules 5, 16 and 17 are extracted below : "5. Sources of recruitment.-Recruitment to the various categories of posts in the service shall be made district wise from the follow ing sources : Category 'a'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Category 'b'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Category 'c'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Category 'd'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Category 'e'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Category 'f'. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (i) Stenographer Grade-II by direct recruitment, (ii) Stenographer Grade-I by promotion from amongst the permanent Stenographers in the scale of Rs. 250-425. If suitable persons are not available for promotion the post may be filled up by direct recruitment. 16. Procedure for direct recruitment to the post of Stenographer.- (1) For the purpose of direct recruitment to the posts of Steno grapher, there snail be constituted a Selection Committee com prising- (i) the District Officer of the district; (ii) two other officers of the district not below the rank of Deputy Collector to be nominated by the District Officer. (2) The Selection Committee shall scrutinize the applications and require the eligible candidate to appear in a competitive test and interview. (3) After the marks, obtained by the candidate in the written test, have been tabulated, the Selection Committee shall, having regard to the need for securing due representation of the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other categories in accordance with Rule 6, call for interview such number of candidates as on the result of the written test, have come up to the standard fixed by the Committee in this respect. The marks awarded to each candidate in the interview, shall be added to the marks obtained by him in the written test. (4) The Selection Committee shall prepare a list of candidates in order of merit, as disclosed by the aggregate of marks obtained by them in the written test and interview. If two or more candi dates obtain equal marks, the candidate obtaining higher marks in the written test shall be placed higher. The number of names in the list shall be larger (but not larger by more than 25 per cent than the number of vacancies ). 17. Procedure for recruitment by promotion to the posts other than the posts of Office Superintendent.- (1) Recruitment to the posts of category 'b', 'c' and 'd' and Stenographer Grade-I mentioned in Rule 5, shall be made on the basis of seniority subject to the rejection of the unfit through the Selection Committee constituted under Rule 16 (1 ). (2) The appointing authority shall prepare category wise eligibility lilt of the candidates arranged in order of seniority and place the list before the Selection Committee alongwith their character rolls and such records pertaining to them so may be considered proper. (3) The Selection Committee shall consider the cases of the candidates on the basis of character rolls and records referred to in sub-rule (2) and if it considers necessary it may also interview the candidates. (4) The Selection Committee shall prepare a list of selected candidates arranged in order of seniority and forward the same to the appointing authority," Respondent No. 5 was working as Stenographer, Grade-II in the Collectorate, Azamgarh. There were four Grade-II, Stenographers including the petitioner who were working as Stenographer, Grade-II in the Collectorate. The two senior most persons in Grade-II Stenographer namely Shiva Nand and Shanker Ram, refused on their own to participate to the selection and they gave in writing that their candidature should not be considered for promo tion to the post of Grade-1, Stenographer. There were two other persons namely Adil Abbasi and Shyam Lal Chaurasiya. On 6th September, 1989 Adil Abbasi and respondent No. 5 both appeared before the Selection Com mittee. They were not found suitable for appointment to the post of Steno grapher, Grade-I as their shorthand writing and typing were not found up to the mark. The Committee of Management threafter considered the candidature of other candidates who had applied for direct recruitment.
(3.) THE petitioner was selected for the post of Stenographer Grade-I by direct recruitment. THE Additional District Magistrate (Administration) submitted a report to the District Magistrate, Azamgarh on 6th September, 1989. This was approved by the District Magistrate on 6th September, 1989 and on the same date the petitioner was issued appointment letter. His appointment was temporary. THE services of the petitioner were confirmed on 1-7-1991. Respondent No, 5 made a representation against the order, dated 6th September, 1989 appointing the petitioner as Stenographer to Collector/ District Magistrate, Azamgarh on the ground that he was entitled to be pro moted on the said post. On the said representation respondent No. 3 set aside the order of the District Magistrate, dated 6th September, 1989 holding that respondent No. 3 was entitled for promotion to the post of Stenographer, Grade-I. The petitioner was directed to be reverted from the post of Steno grapher, Grade-I to the post of Stenographer, Grade-II. This order has been challenged in the present writ petition.;