- (1.) SUDHIR Agarwal, J. Aggrieved by the orders dated 29. 12. 2005 (Annexures 13-A and 13-C to the writ petition), whereby the respondents No. 10 and 11 have been appointed as Collection Amin on regular basis the petitioners have filed the present writ petition assailing the said orders and have sought a writ of certiorari for quashing the same. The petitioners have also sought a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus restraining respondents from taking any action in favour of respondents No. 10 and 11 on the basis of the orders dated 29. 12. 2005 and further to grant regular appointment to the petitioners as Collec tion Amin and to pay them regular monthly salary as payable to the regularly appointed Collection Amins.
(2.) THE facts in brief, giving rise to the present writ petition, are, that both the petitioners, Mithlesh Kumar and Muztuba Hussain were engaged as Seasonal Collection Amin on 1. 7. 1991 and have been continuously engaged from time to time as Seasonal Collection Amin since thereafter. From 5. 3. 2002 till 30. 7. 2005 the petitioners were not engaged as Seasonal Collection Amin and were not assigned any duty at all. But thereafter they were engaged on 10. 8. 2005 till 30. 9. 2005 in the aforesaid capacity. A seniority list of Seasonal Collection Amins of District Chitrakoot was prepared by the Collector on 30. 5. 2003 wherein the respondents No. 10 and 11 were shown at Serial No. 16 and 23 while the petition ers were placed at Serial No. 10 and 18 respectively. it is also, alleged that the petitioners as well as the respondents No. 10 and 11 belong to backward class and, therefore, are entitled to claim all benefits admissible to Other Backward Classes. There were 17 posts of Collection Amin lying vacant in 2004. Recruitment to the post of Collection Amin is governed by U P. Collection Amins Service Rules, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as the" 1974 Rules") which provides that 35% of the vacancy shall be filled in by regular appointment of Seasonal Collection Amins, 15% shall be filled in by promotion of Collection Peons and rest shall be filled in by direct recruitment. An advertisement was published on 24. 12. 2004 for direct recruitment against 8 vacancies of Collection Amin under Rule 5 (1) of 1974 Rules. Rest of the vacan cies were liable to be filled in by promotion of Collection Peons and regular ap pointment of Seasonal Collection Amins. On 1. 7. 2005 the Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue), Chitrakoot issued a circular letter to all Sub- Divisional Magistrates and Tahsildars of District Chitrakoot requiring them to sub mit details of Seasonal Collection Amins working within their jurisdiction giving percentage of recovery, performance report and service record thereof. Vide tetter dated 5. 7. 2005 the Tahsildars, Tahsil Karvi and Mau were required to specify recovery percentage of Seasonal Collection Amin in the fast Four Fasals (crops) since for the purpose of determining satisfactory service one has to satisfy an average recovery of at least 70% in the last four Fasals (crops ). Based on the report received from the aforesaid authorities, a chart was prepared in the office of District Magistrate, Chitrakoot with respect to recovery percentage of various Seasonal Collection Amins in the preceding four Fasalis. A copy of the aforesaid chart has been placed on record as Annexure-7 to the writ petition. It is further stated that the Selection Committee was scheduled to held its meeting on 1/ 02. 8. 2005 wherein it finalised six names of Seasonal Collection Amins for regular appointment on the post of Collection Amin which included the name of petition ers also. However, instead of giving effect to the aforesaid Selection, another meeting was held on 29. 10. 2005 and pursuant to the recommendation made by the Selection Committee in its meeting dated 29. 10. 2005 five appointment letters have been issued to Seasonal Collection Amins appointing them on regular basis as Collection Amin which included the names of respondents No. 10 and 11 and other three persons are Sri Shamsher Bahadur, Sri Krishna Pal Singh and Sri Vidya Sagar. It is said that the selection of respondents No. 10 and 11 who are junior to the petitioners is arbitrary and violative of principle of natural justice as well as 1974 Rules since there is no justification to ignore the petitioners for appointment as regular Collection Amin as they fulfil the requirement of satisfac tory service for appointment as contemplated under 1974 Rules. It is said that Rule 5 (1) requires 70% average recovery in the last four Fasals which is well satisfied by the petitioners and, therefore they could not have been ignored for the aforesaid appointment.
(3.) ON behalf of respondents No. 3 to 9 a counter-affidavit has been filed sworn by Sri Devi Dass, Deputy Collector Chitrakoot wherein the date of appointment of the petitioners and the fact that the petitioners and respondents No. 10 and 11 belong to Other Backward Class are not disputed. However, it is said that no selection process could be held in August, 2005 due to ban order dated 3. 8. 2005 issued by the State Government. Subsequently when the matter was clarified that there is no ban in respect to regular selection on the post of Collection Amin, the Selection Committee held its meeting on 29. 10. 2005. A list of all Seasonal Collection Amins prepared at Tahsil level as on 24. 10. 2005 was considered by the aforesaid Committee and thereafter it recommended names of respondents No. 10 and 11 besides Sri Shamsher Bahadur, Sri Krishna Pal Singh. Sri Vidya Sagar and Sri Bhooray Lal. Sri Bhooray Lal is a scheduled caste and therefore out of six persons who have been selected by the Selection Committee three are from general category, two from other backward class category and one is sched uled caste. It is said that the Selection Committee held that the petitioners do not fulfil requirement of satisfactory service for appointment as regular Collection Amin since their average recovery is less than 70% and therefore, they are not fit for appointment as regular Collection Amin. However, it-is not disputed that up to 15. 12. 2004 there were 17 vacancies of Collection Amin which were available for substantive appointment for which recruitment was made in accordance with rules of U. P. Collection Amin Sewa Niyamawali, 1992. On behalf of respondents No. 10 and 11 also a counter-affidavit has been filed justifying their selection stating similar facts as stated in the counter-affidavit filed by official respondents.;