- (1.) The writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner against the respondents on 20.3.2003 with the prayer that by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the order dated 24.2.2002 (Annexure P-4) by which the respondent No. 3 Addl. Vikas Adhikari, Primary Education, Panchayat Samiti Sarada, Distt. Udaipur gave appointment to the respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena on the post of Additional Shiksha Sahayogi in the school Rodawat of Gram Panchayat Adwas and directed her to undergo training from 1.6.2002 to 30.6.2002 in the Government Upper Primary School, Amarpura (Sarada) be quashed and set aside and further, the provisions of reservations made in the circular Annexure P-6 dated 30.4.2001 that the selection of para-teachers would be made from the category of the persons of which the post of Sarpanch was reserved for the Panchayat be declared illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and further, the respondents be directed to give appointment to the petitioner on the post of Additional Shiksha Sahayogi for School Rodawat, Gram Panchayat Adwas in place of respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena as her appointment was illegal and against the rules.
(2.) The case of the petitioner as put forward by him in this writ petition is as follows : The petitioner is a member of schedule caste category and he possesses educational qualifications of B.A. and also training qualifications of B.Ed. from Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur. The copy of mark-sheet of B.A. Examination, 2000 and copy of B.Ed. Examination, 2001 are marked as Annexure P-1 and Annexure P-2 respectively. The further case of the petitioner is that the applications were invited by the respondent Department for appointment to the post of Para- teacher/Additional Shiksha Sahayogi for the School Rodawat and for that, the selection was to be held on 20.5.2002 in the Gram Panchayat Adwas and the petitioner being fully eligible and qualified, applied for the said post of Additional Shiksha Sahayogi and appeared before the Selection Committee and the Selection Committee prepared a panel of three candidates and took a decision unanimously that appointment on the post of Additional Shiksha Sahyogi be given to the petitioner as he stood top in the merit and a copy of the selection panel prepared by the Selection Committee on 20.5.2002 is Annexure P-2. The further case of the petitioner is that thereafter, the respondent No. 3 Additional Vikas Adhikari vide order dated 24.3.2002 (Annexure P-4) issued the list of all the selected candidates for the post of Shiksha Sahayogi/Para Teacher/Addl. Shiksha Sahayogi and directed them to undergo training from 1.6.2002 to 30.6.2002 in the Government Upper Primary School, Amarpura (Sarada), but in that order Annexure P-4, the name of the petitioner was not there and on the contrary, the respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena was appointed on the post of Addl. Shiksha Sahayogi for the School Rodawat, Gram Panchayat Adwas and she was directed to undergo training and her name was shown at serial No. 37. The further case of the petitioner is that as soon as he came to know that in disregard to his claim, the respondent No. 5 Smt. Surga Meena was appointed as Addl. Shiksha Sahayogi for the School Rodawat, Gram Panchayat Adwas and she was sent for training through impugned order Annexure P-4, he made a representation Annexure P-5 to the respondents on 31.5.2002, but the same was not decided by the respondents. However, the petitioner has come to know that despite his selection and standing first in the merit, he was not given appointment in view of the provisions of reservations made in the circular Annexure P-6 dated 30.4.2001 to the effect that selection of the Para-Teachers would be made from the category of the persons of which the post of Sarpanch was reserved for the Panchayat and since the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat Adwas was of different caste and was of the caste of respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena, therefore, appointment was given to the respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena ignoring the claim of the petitioner and according to the petitioner, the above provisions of reservations made in the impugned circular Annexure P-6 dated 30.4.2001 are wholly illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and thus, the same cannot be sustained and liable to be quashed and set aside. The further case of the petitioner is that since he stood first in the merit and the respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena was lower in Annexure P-3 dated 20.5.2002, therefore, appointment should have been given to the petitioner in place of respondent No. 5 and by not giving appointment to the petitioner, the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 have acted illegally and arbitrarily and their action is highly discriminatory, arbitrary, illegal and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. Hence. Hence, this writ petition with the prayers as stated above. A reply to the writ petition was filed by the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and their case is that as per provisions of reservations made in the Circular Annexure P-6 dated 30.4.2001, selection for the post of Para Teachers would be made from the category of the persons to which the post of Sarpanch was reserved for the Panchayat and since the petitioner does not belong to the same category/caste to which the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Adwas belonged i.e. scheduled tribe category, therefore, he was not given appointment and since respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena was of the same caste/category i.e. scheduled tribe category to which the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Adwas belonged, therefore, she was given appointment in place of the petitioner and by doing so, no illegality or irregularity has been committed by the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 as the appointment to the respondent No. 5 was given in accordance with the provisions of reservations made in the circular Annexure P-6 dated 30.4.2001. Hence, no interference is called for and this writ petition deserves to be dismissed. During the pendency of this writ petition, an additional affidavit was filed by the petitioner stating inter alia that the respondent No. 5 Smt. Durga Meena has been selected on the post of Teacher Grade III (Physical Teacher) and a regular appointment has been given to her vide order dated 31.3.2004 (Annexure P-8) passed by the District Education Officer, Primary Education, Udaipur and in pursuance of the appointment order Annexure P-6, the respondent No. 5 has joined her duties in the Government Upper Primary School, Idaana in Panchayat Samiti Salumber and therefore, the post of Para teacher/Additional Shiksha Sahayogi in Rajiv Gandhi Pathshala, Rodawat, Adwas is lying vacant and thus, now the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 be directed to give appointment to the petitioner to the said post.
(3.) I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel for the respondents and gone through the entire materials available on record.;