- (1.) The grievance of the petitioner in the writ petition is that the post of Assistant Librarian is sought to be filed up by direct recruitment without considering her for promotion to the said post from her present post as Restorer. The petitioner would cite two instances of persons, who were working as Restorers and who were seniors to her and who had been promoted to the posts as Assistant Librarians during the respective tenure of service. One was Basant Mala Kohli and another was Shanti Devi.
(2.) The justification for the advertisement by the respondents is that there are no recruitment rules and the Restorer's post itself is not a channel for promotion to a higher post. I cannot accept this contention as providing a justification for the respondents' act, for, if there are no recruitment rules, then they shall only allow the past practice to prevail. If such practice had resulted in consideration of a person holding the post as a Restorer for promotion to the post as Assistant Librarian in the past, the petitioner was entitled to similar consideration on the touchstone of Article 14 of the Constitution.
(3.) The writ petition is allowed and the advertisement notification is quashed. The respondents shall consider the petitioner's candidature on her own merit and take an appropriate decision for promotion to the post as Assistant Librarian, if she is otherwise not disqualified to hold the said post.;