Adding Half The Vacancies After 8 Months Of Selection Process By Dividing/Splitting Vacancy Is Illegal & Unreasonable: Rajasthan HC
The Rajasthan High Court has held that adding half of the vacancies after almost 8 months of the commencement of the selection process by dividing/splitting the vacancy is illegal and unreasonable.
The Court quashed the Order enhancing the seats in the already advertised posts of Ayurveda Compounder/Nurse Junior Grade after observing that it was “unjust & violative of the fundamental rights” and “against propriety & legislative intent and the underlying principles of law.” The Bench stated that such division of vacancy cannot be permitted to “benefit some and causing loss to the others.”
A Single Bench of Justice Farjand Ali held, “No rule of law would like to see benefiting a class of citizen and closing the opportunity for the others. Rules are made for its use for betterment of the societal interest but, for sure, not made for being misused by the authorities. Taking resort of a provision, the State authorities can’t be allowed to snatch reasonable opportunities from the others for which they are otherwise eligible. I am of the firm opinion that division of vacancy cannot be permitted to benefit some and causing loss to the others.”
Advocate Yashpal Khileree appeared for the Petitioners, while AAG Narendra Singh Rajpurohit represented the Respondents.
The Writ Petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution were filed by the Petitioners being aggrieved by the action of the Respondents for not granting a fair chance of consideration to the Petitioners in the ongoing selection process of Ayurveda Compounder/Nurse Junior Grade and for quashing of the impugned Order passed by the Rajasthan Government’s Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH Department) whereby the seats were added to the said post.
The High Court stated that permitting the Respondent to add 247 seats to the existing selection process would be against the concept of equal opportunity guaranteed by the Constitution which ensured that “all interested individuals having the same ability to access chance of receiving particular resource such as employment without discrimination based on irrelevant factors.”
The Bench noted, “After sometime, the respondent department increased/enhanced/added seats to the existing post debarring the candidates/applicants/incumbents/aspirants from applying for the added on seats as the last date of filling up the application form is still the same as it was notified i.e., 05.11.2023. While looking into the facts of the case, it is felt that there would be three types of categories which will be restricted/ excluded from affording opportunity by the order impugned and the same would be discriminatory for them.”
Consequently, the Court observed, “Adding on half of the vacancy after almost 8 months of the commencement of the process that too by dividing/splitting the vacancy is not only beyond the purview of Rule 16 but also the same is illegal and unreasonable. After anxious consideration of the legal and factual aspect of the matter, this Court is of the view that the reasonability and propriety would be to allow the State authorities to complete the selection process for the advertised vacancies only without adding on additional vacancy and a new selection process should be commenced for whatever vacancies has arisen till now so that every individual can be given opportunities to contest.”
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the Writ Petition.
Cause Title: Nitisha Choudhary & Anr. v. The State Of Rajasthan & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:RJ-JD:37111)
Appearance:
Petitioners: Advocates Yashpal Khileree, Nitin Gehlot, Vinita, M.S. Godara, Varsha Bissa and Varda Ram Choudhary
Respondents: AAG Narendra Singh Rajpurohit; Deputy GC Rakhi Choudhary; Advocates Sher Singh Rathore and Suniel Purohit