Sunil Ambwani, J. - (1.) 1. By these writ petitions, the petitioners appointed as 'Accredited Engineers', under clause 5.5 of the Operational Guidelines framed by the Central Government in the year 2006, as non-governmental and non-departmental Engineers empanneled on contract, after their selections by the selection committees constituted in accordance with the Government Order dated 17.7.2006, for preparation and supervision of the projects in the socio-economic schemes framed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, have prayed for quashing the Government Order dated 23.10.2008 to the extent that it amends clause 5.4 of the National Rozgar Guarantee Yojana published on 8.2.2007 and the advertisement dated 19.12.2008/20.12.2008 by which the State Government has provided for obtaining the services of the Technical Assistants at the Village Panchayat level and Technical Assistants at the Block Development level, through service providers. The advertisement published by the State Government under the Government Order dated 16.12.2008 (CA-2), provides for appointment of the service provider on contract by a Committee at the regional level. With this new arrangement the services of the petitioners are to be dispensed with effect from 31.3.2009.
(2.) HEARD Shri B.N. Singh assisted by Shri Namit Kumar Sharma; Shri Ashok Khare, Senior Advocate assisted by Shri Pradeep Verma and Shri Chetan Chatterjee for the petitioners. Shri Jaideep Mathur, Additional Advocate General assisted by Shri Ravi Ranjan, Standing Counsel has appeared for the state respondents. Dr. Ashok Nigam, Additional Solicitor General of India assisted by Shri Triloki Singh, Additional Standing Counsel has appeared for the Union of India. Shri Shashi Nandan, Senior Acvocate, assisted by Shri Udayan Nandan has appeared for Rama Infotech Pvt. Ltd. through its director Shri Ajai Gupta, the newly impleaded respondent. After exchange of affidavits and with the consent of parties, all the matters were finally heard. Brief facts giving rise to these writ petitions are that the State Government issued a Government Order dated 17.7.2006 for empanelment of Junior Engineers/Technical Assistants as Accredited Engineers under clause 5.5 of the Operational Guidelines, 2006 issued by the Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development, Government of India for implementing the 'National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005' (NREGA) at Panchayat level. The empanelment was provided to be made through a selection process conducted by a Selection Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Development Officer of the district. The District Development Officer is to be the Secretary and the Project Director, District Rural Development Authority, and its Assistant Engineers are its members. The selection of the candidates by the Committee was to be subject to the approval of the State Government. In Writ Petition No. 2072 of 2009 and Writ Petition No. 2942 of 2009 the petitioners were appointed as Accredited Engineers in district Kaushambi. In Writ Petition No. 10748 of 2009 the petitioners were appointed as Accredited Engineers in district Sonebhadra. In Writ Petition No. 12389 of 2009 the seven petitioners were appointed as Accredited Engineers at the district level in district Jalaun. In Writ Petition No. 3513 of 2009 the petitioners were appointed as Accredited Engineers in district Azamgarh. The advertisement issued in terms of the Operational Guidelines, 2006 of NREGA provides that the Junior Engineers in the line department can also be engaged, according to their availability. The educational qualifications of the candidates from the open market is Intermediate with a Diploma of Civil or Mechanical Engineering. They are provided to be paid honorarium in a manner that (a) 0.5% of the cost of the project shall be paid for preparing the estimate of the project; (b) after the constructions work of the project is complete the concerned Technical Assistants will be paid 0.1% of the cost of the project, in addition, for technical supervision; and (c) the Technical Assistants shall be paid a sum of Rs.600/- as travelling allowance for preparing measurements and for supervision of the project; (d) the headquarters of the selected engineers will be the concerned Kshetra Panchayat.
(3.) THE Office Orders issued by the Project Director, District Rural Development Authority, provided for approval of the names of the petitioners as Technical Assistants under the Government Order dated 3.9.2007. Other than the details of the payment as described above and the provisions in clause-5 of the scheme, that the honorarium shall be paid from out of the administrative expenses made available to the Programme Officer under NREGA, and the provisions in clause-6 that the Gram Panchayat under one Nyay Panchayat would be allotted by the Programme Officer/Block Development Officer of the Kshetra Panchayat, there are no other term in the Office Orders as regards to the conditions of their service, or the period for which the Technical Assistants are to be engaged. THE last paragraph of each Office Order provides that if the Technical Assistant is found to be guilty in any matter, his name will be removed from the panel in accordance with the procedure provided in the Government Order. THE petitioners joined and are working as Technical Assistants in their assigned Gram Panchayats. The State Government notified a State scheme under Section 4 (1) of the NREGA for its implementation in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Chapter-V of the scheme provides for a technical assistance and the empanelment of the Junior Engineers and Technical Assistants from both the Engineers of the line department (employees of the State Government working in the concerned department) and the engagement from open market on honorarium by a Selection Committee in the chairmanship of Chief Development Officer.;