AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. - (1.) PETITIONERS have approached this Court praying for issuance of a writ of certiorari for quashing the order dated 10.10.2013 (Annexure P -2) rejecting their candidature on the ground that the petitioners have not passed the Multi Purpose Health Workers (hereinafter referred to as 'MPHW') Training Course from an institution approved by the Haryana Government.
(2.) THIS action of the respondents is sought to be challenged on the ground that the same is violative of the Policy Decision/Instructions dated 18.03.1975 of the Haryana Government (Annexure P -39), according to which, the degrees or diplomas etc., which are recognized by the Government of India, shall be deemed to be recognized by the Government of Haryana. Similar was the position with regard to the degrees and diplomas awarded by the recognized Universities and by the Boards established by the State Government for High/Higher Secondary School. It has been contended that since the petitioners have passed their Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery Course, which is at the level of Senior School Certificate Examination, held by the Central Board of Secondary Education, the course would be treated to be equivalent to that of a MPHW Training Course of the Government of Haryana and it shall be deemed to be an approved institution of Government of Haryana. The diploma held by the petitioners is recognized under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947 and mentioned at Sr. No. 18 of the list of recognized institutions, which is the Central Board of Secondary Education, which has further been recognized by the Haryana Nursing Council and, therefore, the petitioners are eligible for appointment to the post of MPHW. Prayer has, thus, been made for setting aside the impugned order dated 10.10.2013 (Annexure P -2) and for directing the respondents to interview the petitioners and declare the result along with the other candidates in pursuance to Advertisement No. 2/2011 dated 06.12.2011. Petitioners had earlier filed CWP No. 24616 of 2013 for the same cause of action, which came up for hearing before this Court on 04.02.2014 when the following order was passed: "Present: Mr. Jangjit Singh Dahiya, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr.DAG, Haryana, for the State. Counsel for the petitioners prays for withdrawal of the writ petition with liberty to challenge the statutory rules, which restricts eligibility of the candidates for appointment to the post of Multipurpose Health Worker only to such persons who have passed the Multipurpose Health Workers Training Course, which is only recognized/approved by the State of Haryana on the ground that it is violative of University Grants Commission Act,1956 and All India Council of Technical Education Act, 1987, besides other grounds as well. He further submits that interim orders in favour of the petitioners be maintained till three weeks from today so that they may file appropriate petitions challenging the vires of the statutory rules. Prayer made by counsel for the petitioners is accepted. The writ petition is permitted to be withdrawn with liberty to file a fresh petition on the same cause of action, on same/similar and other grounds besides challenging the vires of the statutory rules governing the appointment to the posts of Multipurpose Health Worker (Male). The interim order shall continue to enure in favour of the petitioners as passed in this writ petition for a period of three weeks from today, whereafter it shall cease to operate."
(3.) AFTER the passing of the above order, petitioners filed C.M. No. 2287 of 2014 praying for recall of the order dated 04.02.2014. The said application was withdrawn when the same came up for hearing on 03.03.2014 and the following order was passed: - " Counsel for the applicant/petitioners, after arguing for some time, prays for withdrawal of the present application. Application is dismissed as withdrawn." It would not be out of way to mention here that in the application for recall of the order i.e. C.M. No. 2287 of 2014, it was stated that the counsel for the petitioners had not made a statement that his case may be withdrawn with the liberty as has been recorded in the said order. As a matter of fact, at the time of hearing when the instructing counsel was confronted by the Court as to whether he was present in Court at the time when the order was passed, he had stated that he was there and it was in his presence that the said order was passed. That apart, the affidavit of Vikas s/o Harpal Singh was appended along with the application, who, admittedly, was not present in the Court at the time when the order was passed and, therefore, the factual assertions made in the application were found to be incorrect. It is in these peculiar facts and circumstances of the case when the Court observed that the application required dismissal with certain observations against the counsel and invited costs also that the application was withdrawn which this Court permitted taking a sympathetic view. Now, the present writ petition has been filed again on the same cause of action and for the same prayer, as has been made in CWP No. 24616 of 2013, which was earlier preferred by the petitioners and withdrawn with liberty, as has been recorded above. In the considered opinion of this Court, the present writ petition is not maintainable as it would be barred by the principle of res judicata. To come out of this aspect, learned senior counsel for the petitioners has, referring to the order dated 04.02.2014, stated that the Court, while permitting withdrawal of the writ petition, granted liberty to file a fresh petition on the same cause of action on the same/similar and other grounds apart from challenging the vires of the Statutory Rules governing the appointment to the post of MPHW. Since the petitioners did not intend to challenge the Statutory Rules as, according to them, it was not necessary, the present writ petition is being filed. ;