- (1.) THIS writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner against the respondents on 12 -3 -99 with a prayer that by an appropriate writ, order or direction the respondents may be directed to give appointment to the petitioner on the post of Safai Karamchari (Sweeper) from the date when the other persons whose names appeared in the select list were given appointment with all consequential benefits.
(2.) THE facts as put forward by the petitioner are as under: i) That the respondent No. 2. (Chief Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Jodhpur) published an advertisement (Annex. 1) on 9th January, 1996 about the vacancies of 774 posts of Safari Karamchari (Sweeper). ii) That in pursuance of the said advertisement (Annex. 1) dated 9 -1 -1996, the petitioner applied for the said post and he was found eligible and "hence interview call letter No. 4013 (Annex. P/2) was sent by the respondent No. 2 (Commissioner, Municipal Council, Jodhpur). The interview was held on 12 -7 -96 at Fire Brigade Office, Nagori Gate, Jodhpur. iii) That before issuing advertisement (Annex. 1), the Government of Rajasthan issued a letter dated 16 -11 -95 (Annex. P/3), in which the mode of recruitment was declared as per the direction of this Court and 774 posts of safari Karamchari (Sweeper) were sanctioned. The method of recruitment was proposed by this Court in the judgment dated 21 -12 -92 delivered in S. B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1713/92 (Shri Prabhu and Ors v. State). As per the judgment dated 21 -12 -92, the recruitment was to be made through lottery system amongst the eligible persons. The lottery was held by the respondents amongst the eligible candidates and the result of the lottery was declared on 19 -7 -1996. The petitioner 's name appeared in the list of selected candidates (Annex. P/4). The petitioner 's roll number stood at serial No. 4 in the 7th line of first page. iv) The further case of the petitioner is that after publishing the list (Annex. P/4) of selected candidates, the respondents sent the appointment letter to other candidates, but unfortunately no appointment letter was sent to the petitioner. The petitioner contacted the respondents several times, but no satisfactory explanation or reply was given to him by the respondents. v) The further case of the petitioner is that since the respondents without any valid reason did not give appointment to the petitioner while appointment, in pursuance of lottery system, were given to other candidates, therefore, the act of the respondents comes in the purview of violation of Article 14 of the constitution of India as the action of the respondents is arbitrary and discriminatory. Hence, this writ petition with the abovementioned prayer. Reply to the writ petition was filed by the respondents and in the reply, the respondents have raised following preliminary objections: i) That the petitioner has not impleaded the Municipal Corporation as a party in the writ petition therefore, the writ petition is not maintainable. ii) That since list of selected candidates (Annex. P/4) was published on 19 -7 -96 and the petitioner has filed the present writ petition in the year 1999, therefore, the writ petition filed by the petitioner deserves to be dismissed on the ground of inordinate delay. Further reply of the respondents is that it was not necessary for the respondents to fill in all the vacancies, but out of 774 posts of Safai Karamchari (Sweeper), 642 posts have been filled in, but the case of the petitioner and other similarly situated persons numbering 132 is still pending under consideration and decision will be taken by the Municipal Corporation, Jodhpur in consultation with the State Government to fill up the rest of the vacancies and, therefore, no case is made out and the writ petition is liable to be dismissed.
(3.) I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.;