- (1.) D. K. Seth, J. The petitioner was selected by the District Committee following the procedure provided in Rule 15 of the U. P. Rural Develop ment (Gram Sewak) Service Rules, 1980 in the post of Gram Sewak. Such candidates are sent for training under Rule 16 of the said Rules. But the Commissioner has altered the position of the select list prepared by the District Committee and did not include the petitioner within the list of candidates meant for training. By means of the present writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the said action of the Commissioner on the ground of its being wholly without jurisdiction,
(2.) DR. R. G. Padia, learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the Rules do not prescribe any jurisdiction to the Commissioner to alter the select list prepared by the District Committee. By reason of Rule 16 he is bound to send the names of the candidates selected by the District Com mittee for training. His jurisdiction to prepare the list arises only after the completion of the training as provided in the last paragraph of Rule 16. Besides this the Commissioner does not derive power to intervene with the select list prepared in order of merits by the District Committee. He draws my attention to Rule 15, particularly to sub-Rules (1) and sub-rule (4) of Rule 15 and Rule 16 (1) and last part thereof. According to him the expression at the end of sub-rule (4) of Rule 15 is to be reconciled with the sub-rule (1) of Rule 15 and the last paragraph of Rule 16. A harmonious con struction of the statute, according to him, would lead us to conclude that there cannot be any scope for preparation of two list by the Commissioner at two stages. According to him, the principle governing construction of the Statute is to give a harmonious construction and there is no controversy in between the two provisions. He further contends that because of Rule 16 and sub-rule (1) of Rule 13, the select list is to be prepared district wise and the candidates selected will be sent for training and that the final list is to be prepared on the basis of the result of the training, In that event it was not necessary to prepare a further list at a stage before the candidates are sent for training. Mr. Nurual Huda, learned standing counsel on the other hand contends that the list is prepared district wise only for the purpose of con venience and the same ought to be sent to the Commissioner who will draw up the State-wise list from the list received from the Districts and sent for training. Such steps are taken for the purpose of recruiting best of the candidates and to secure that a candidate, though not in a better position but would get the opportunity of being placed some where in the top in the district level while a better candidate in another district though at a lower place in the would be excluded. According to him the power of Commis sioner specified in sub-rule (4) of Rule 16, namely, to prepare a merit list of the candidates on completion of training, would be to reallocate the list on the result of the training. According to him there is no anomaly or there is nothing to be reconciled. According to him a harmonious construction of the statute shows that a list would be prepared by the Commissioner after he receives the list from the District, in order of preference in the list received by him from the District and then the candidate ought to be sent for training and after the training is over for the purpose of appointment another merit list is to be drawn. The said Rules and Rule 6 make provision for reservation of candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste, Schedule Tribe and other backward categories according to the Government orders in force at the time of recruitment. The Rules lay down the qualifications in Part IV of the Rules with regard to nationality, Academic qualifications, Preferential qualifica tion, Age, Character, Marital status and Physical fitness. Part V provides for procedure for recruitment. Rule 14 empowers the Commissioner to determine and notify to the Employment Exchange the number of vacancies to be filled, in each district, during the course of the year and also the number of vacancies to be reserved for the candidate belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other categories under Rule 6. The vacancies may also be notified in the newspapers in circulation in the con cerned districts and be published otherwise too. Rules 15 and 16, which are material for the purpose, are quoted below :- 15. Procedure for Direct Recruitment.- (1) The Selection of candi dates for the purpose of training shall be made district-wise through a Selection Committee comprising- (i) The District Magistrate or his nominee ; (ii) An Officer or Member of the Zila Parishad ; (iii) The District Development Officer/additional District Magistrate (Development ). Note,-The Chairman of the Committee shall be the District Magis trate and in his absence the Additional District Magistrate (Development)/district Development Officer shall preside. (2) The Selection Committee shall scrutinize the applications and require the eligible candidates to appear in a written test and physical test. The syllabus for the written test and standard for physical test is given in Appendix 'b'. The Departmental candidates shall be exempted from the physical test in assessing the merits of the candidates. (3) After the marks obtained by the candidates in the written test have been tabulated, the Selection Committee shall having regard to the need for securing due representation of the candi dates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other categories in accordance with Rule 6, call only those candidates for Interview and physical test who obtain a minimum of 50 percent marks (40 percent in case of Scheduled Caste Candidate ). Among other things the Committee shall have regard for the rural background his physical and general suitability for appointment to the service as well as other' points indicated in Appendix 'b'. The marks allotted in the physical test and interview will be added to the marks; obtained in the written examination. (4) The Committee shall then draw up separate lists of the candi dates selected (a) for direct recruitment under Rule 5 and (b) for recruitment from amongst the permanent Panchayat Sewak, under proviso to Rule 5, and arrange their names in order of their proficiency as disclosed by the aggregate marks finally awarded to each candidate and forward it to the Commissioners in the proforma prescribed in Appendix 'c' of these rules subject to Rules 6 and 16, the Commissioner will select the candidates who stand highest in the order of preference in the list received from the Committee of the District. Training 16. (i) The selected candidates shall have to undergo two years training at such place as the Government may from time to time specify at their own expense before being substantively appointed. (ii) During the period of training they will be given a monthly stipend for Rs. 50 per month as such stipend as the Govern ment may from time to time determine. (iii) The candidates shall execute a bond undertaking to serve under Government of the State for three years as Gram Sewak. The Commissioner shall prepare a merit list of the candidates on completion of training on the basis, of aggregate of marks secured by them in the training and send the requisite number of names to the concerned appointing authority. Sub-rule (1) of Rule 15 prescribes that the selection of candidates for the purpose of training shall be made district-wise through the selection committee comprising of members enumerated therein. Sub- rule (4) pro vides that the committee is to draw up the list and arrange the names in order of proficiency as disclosed by the aggregate marks finally awarded to each candidate and forward the same to the Commissioner in the proforma prescribed in Appendix 'c' of these rules subject to Rules 6 and 16. Sub- rule (4) also prescribes as to what the Commissioner would do upon such list is forwarded to him. Had the last portion namely "the Commissioner will select the candidates who stand' highest in the order of preference in the list received from the Committee of the District" not there in that event it would have been easy to accept the contention of Dr. Padia. But these expression creates the difficulty which requires, as contended by Dr. Padia, harmonious construction in order to construe the same in the manner Dr. Padia wants to : namely, that there cannot be two lists at two stages when the list is subject to Rule 16, namely, training.
(3.) IT is also established principle of law that the legislation never waste words. No part of the statute can be said to be meaningless. The sub-rule (4) does not stop with the forwarding of the list to the Commis sioner in Appendix 'c'. On the other hand it prescribes for certain obliga tion of the Commissioner after such list is received by him. Sub-rule (4) specifically prescribes that list is to be prepared on the basis of the profi ciency as disclosed by the aggregate marks finally awarded to each candi date. The manner of awarding marks have been prescribed in sub-rule (3 ). Appendix 'c' also makes out several column. Column 6 makes provision for indicating the marks obtained in written test while column 7 indicates marks obtained in the physical test, column 8 indicates marks obtained in the interview and then column 9 indicates total marks obtained. The note appended to Appendix 'c' also prescribes how the marks in an interview ought to be indicated. The note also prescribes that list of candidates as in order of preference shall be based on the total marks as given in the column 9. In order to appreciate the position it is necessary to refer to Appendix 'c' quoted below : MERIT LIST OF GRAM SEWAKS IN THE DISTRICt (1) Sl. No. (2) Order of Merit. (3) Name and address of candidate. (4) Educational qualification. (5) Age. (6) Marks obtained in the written test. (7) Marks obtained in the physical test. (8) Marks obtained in the interview. (9) Total marks obtained. (10) Remarks. Note.-Scheduled Castes, Backward classes and candidates, belong ing to hilly tracks should be indicated by letters SC, BC and (H) respectively in the remarks column. The marks given to a candidate by all the interviewers at the inter view be added up and the total thus obtained divided by the number of interviewers. In other words, the figure in this column shall be given an average of the marks obtained by a candidate at the interview. The list of selected candidate as in order of preference shall be based on the total marks, as given in Column 9 above. Therefore the list sent by the Committee is prepared strictly in order of marks received in the selection held by the district Committee: Had it been an intention of the Legislature that the candidate so selected would be sent for training without the intervention of the Commissioner, in that event it would not have introduced the last phrase of sub-rule (4) empower ing the Commissioner to select the candidates in order of preference in the district list. The provision contained in hub-rule (1) of Rule 15 providing for the selection of candidates district wise is subject to sub-rule (4 ). The opening words of sub-rule (1) gives an harmonious construction and do not seem to eclipse last pharse of sub-rule (4 ). On the other hand the opening words of sub-rule (1) are subject to the last pharse of the sub-rule (4) which is again subject to the last paragraph of Rule 16. The provision of sub-rule (1) is engrafted for the shake of convenience in order of conduct selec tion on the district level. The procedure of formation of Selection Committee and the manner in which the Selection Committee would act was provided in sub- rule (2 ). Sub-rule (2) also provides for syllabus and procedure for awarding marks which has also been prescribed in Appendix 'b'. The detailed guidelines have been given for conducting such selection and awarding such marks. A combined reading of Rules 14, 15 and 16 does not lead us to any disharmony in the aforesaid Rules. On the other hand it appears that it was intended that though list might have been prepared district- wise but the same is to be forwarded to the Commissioner for the purpose of selecting the candidates, who stand highest in order of preference in the list received from the District Committee and then they are sent for training. However, the list for appointment would be prepared after the training is over. The training is given State-wise and appointment is also given State-wise. It is not a case that the candidates selected by the District Committee are required to be posted in the district itself and meant for filing up the post in the district alone. Nothing has been shown-to me to propound such a provision that the post in a district would be filled up from the candidate selected from the district itself. As it appears that while sending the candidates for training the Commissioner has been empowered to prepare a list in order of preference from the Committee of District and the candidate since so selected ought to undergo training as provided under Rule 16 and would be eligible for the appointment only on the result of the training after which a fresh merit list is to be prepared by the Commissioner again on the basis of aggregate of mark secured by them after training.;