Bela M. Trivedi, J. - (1.) THE present petition has been filed by the petitioners, seeking relaxation in the criteria of age laid down in the advertisement dated 12/12/2014(Annexure -8). It appears that the petitioner No. 1 at present is working as Banking Assistant at Sikar Road Branch of Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank Ltd., Jaipur, and the petitioner No. 2 is B.Sc. (Agricultural) belonging to SC Category. As per the case of the petitioners, the advertisement was issued by the respondent No. 3 on 12/12/2014 for 613 posts in the Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank and Central Cooperative Banks, in view of Section 30B of the Rajasthan Cooperative Societies Act, 2001 (hereinafter referred to as 'the said Act'), pursuant to which the petitioners had applied off line, however their cases have not been considered by the respondent No. 3 on the ground that they have become overaged.
(2.) IT is submitted by the learned counsel Mr. Ajay Gupta for the petitioners that the respondents had not issued any advertisement since 2010, and therefore the petitioners have become overage. According to him, since the posts remained vacant for almost 4 years, and since no recruitment process was held, the petitioners are entitled to the relaxation in the age limit, as the petitioner No. 1 is a lady and the employee working with the bank, and the petitioner No. 2 belongs to the SC category. Relying upon the order dated 9/3/2015 of the respondent No. 2 -Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Annexure 11, he submitted that the maximum age limit for the Sahayak Karamchari having been fixed at 35 years and relaxation of five years having been given to the persons belonging to SC, ST Category, and also to the employees of the registered cooperative banks, the same criteria should be applied to the recruitment in question. However the learned counsels appearing for the respondents submitted that both the petitioners being overaged no relaxation in the age limit could be granted in absence of any Rules made in that behalf. Having regard to the submissions made by the learned counsels for the parties, and to the documents on record, it is required to be noted at the outset that the common petition filed by the petitioners is not maintainable in the eye of law, inasmuch as the facts and the status of both the petitioners are different. The petitioner No. 1 is a lady from General Category and she is an existing employee of the cooperative bank, while the petitioner No. 2 is a male candidate belonging to the SC category. Thus, both the petitioners stand on different footings. The petition therefore deserves to be dismissed on the ground of non -maintainability alone. However, even if the merits of the case are concerned, in the opinion of the Court, the legal position has been well settled by the Apex Court in case of Rajasthan Public Service Commission v. Smt. Anand Kanwar,, 1995(3) Scale 192 in which it has been held as under: - - "Be that as it may, the High Court was not justified in taking the clock back to the period when unfilled vacancies were existing and holding that since the respondent was eligible on the date when vacancies were existing and holding that since the respondent was eligible on the date when vacancies fell vacant, she continues to be so till the time the vacancies are filled. Due to inaction on the part of the State Government in not filling the posts year -wise, the respondent cannot get a right to participate in the selection despite being over -aged."
(3.) THE Apex Court in case of Dr. Ami Lal Bhat v. State of Rajasthan & Ors., : (1997) 6 SCC 614 has also dealt with the issue as to whether the age limit could be relaxed, if the vacancies are not filled up in the relevant years, and it has been observed as under: - - "In our view this kind of an interpretation cannot be given to a rule for relaxation of age. The power of relaxation is required to be exercised in public interest in a given case; as for example, if other suitable candidates are not available for the post, and the only candidate who is suitable has crossed the maximum age limit; or to mitigate hardship in a given case. Such a relaxation in special circumstances of a given case is to be exercised by the administration after referring that case to the Rajasthan Public Service Commission. There cannot be any wholesale relaxation because the advertisement is delayed or because the vacancy occurred earlier especially when there is no allegation of any mala fides in connection with any delay in issuing an advertisement. This kind of power of wholesale relaxation would make for total uncertainty in determining the maximum age of a candidate. It might be unfair to a large number of candidates who might be similarly situated, but who may not apply, thinking that they are age barred. We fail to see how the power of relaxation can be exercised in the manner contended.";