- (1.) The present writ petition has been preferred by the petitioners who belong to the General Category, challenging the selection and appointment of respondents No. 4 and 5 on the post of Senior Analyst/Analytical Chemist in the Haryana Agricultural Services (Group A) (hereinafter referred to as the HAS(A) Services) in the Department of Agriculture, Haryana on the ground that the selected candidates do not fulfill the required qualification as per the Service Rules and the advertisement.
(2.) The service conditions for the post of Senior Analyst/Analytical Chemist is provided for by the Statutory Rules known as the Haryana Agricultural (Group A) Service Rules, 1996. An advertisement No. 8 was issued by the Haryana Public Service Commission wherein applications were invited for recruitment to four temporary posts of Senior Analyst/Analytical Chemist in the HAS-(A) Services in the Department of Agriculture Haryana. One post so advertised was reserved for the Scheduled Caste of Haryana Block-A and in case of non-availability of a candidate from Block-A, the post was to be filled from Block-B. The essential qualifications prescribed was as follows :- "Essential qualifications :- (a) M.Sc. Agriculture Chemistry/Soil Science from a recognised Agricultural University. (b) Three years analytical experience in Fertilizers/Pesticides/Soil testing in any recognised University after acquiring the minimum basic qualification. Or Ph. D. in Agriculture Chemistry/Soil Science from any recognised Agricultural Uni./Institute. (c) Hindi upto Matric."
(3.) Petitioners No. 1 & 2 applied for these posts but were not successful in the selection process. Petitioners No. 3 to 5 did not participate in the selection process. The contention of the petitioners is that they are fully qualified for the said post, however, the selected candidate-respondent No. 4 Dharam Pal son of Telu Ram' is not qualified as he does not fulfill the requisite experience as per the advertisement and the statutory rules. It is the contention of the petitioners that respondent No. 4 who is not a Ph.D. and had passed his M.Sc. in Soil Science, does not have a single day's analytical experience in Fertilizers/Pesticides/Soil Testing in any recognized University after acquiring the minimum qualification. It is their submission that initially, his application to the Haryana Public Service Commission was not forwarded by the Director, Agriculture, as he did not possess the requisite experience. However, at a later stage, a letter dated 14.11.2003 (Annexure P- 4) addressed to the Director, Agriculture, was issued by the Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary, Agriculture Department, Haryana, mentioning therein that there is only one cadre of employees who are working in Soil Testing side and Soil Conservation side and their posts are inter- transferable and, therefore, the experience rendered by an employee in Soil Conservation' side be considered equivalent to the experience in Soil Testing side. This letter would show that the experience which respondent No. 4 had attained while working as Agricultural Development Officer, being on the post which belongs to the Soil Conservation side was not being counted for the purpose of considering him eligible for the post he had applied for as the requisite experience as per the advertisement was to be on the Soil Testing side. It is the contention of the petitioners that on the basis of the said letter, the form of respondent No. 4 was forwarded to the Haryana Subordinate Service Selection Board which initially had rejected the candidature of respondent No. 4 but, however, in the light of the said letter, the Board has treated the experience of respondent No. 4 in the Soil Conservation side as equivalent to the experience in Soil Testing side and thereby accepted the candidature of respondent No. 4 holding him eligible and ultimately, selecting him for the said post which, the petitioners contend, is in total violation of the qualification prescribed under the Statutory Rules as well as the advertisement as the requirement of the advertisement is three years' Analytical Experience in any recognized University after acquiring the minimum basic qualification. Since the experience is not in any recognized University, therefore, this experience could not have at all been taken into consideration assuming the experience of respondent No. 4 in the Soil Conservation side to be as equivalent to the Soil Testing side.;