Rajasthan Municipality Rules Will Prevail Over Condition Enumerated In The Advertisement: Rajasthan HC Quashes Termination Order Of Safai Karamcharis
The Rajasthan High Court quashed and set aside an order by the Municipal Authority that terminated the service of Safai Karamcharis/Sanitation Workers that was issued as their experience letters were not signed by the authorities specified in the advertisement.
The Court said that the provisions mentioned in the Rajasthan Municipalities (Safai Employee Service) Rules, 2012 will prevail over the conditions enumerated in the advertisement for the post.
The Court was hearing a bunch of Writ Petitions challenging an order that terminated the petitioners' employment as Safai Karamcharis.
The bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur observed, “if the provision of law does not provide for producing a certificate by a candidate under the signatures of a particular authority, then the condition mentioned in the advertisement/Notification for producing the experience certificate under the signatures of a particular authority is clearly de hors the Rule. The provisions mentioned in the Rule will prevail over the condition enumerated in the advertisement.”
Advocate Lokesh Mathur appeared for the Appellant and Senior Advocate Rajesh Panwar appeared for the Respondent.
Brief Facts-
Following the advertisement by the respondent Department for the post of Safai Karamchari, the petitioners, along with other candidates, applied and were appointed after they met the eligibility criteria. However, in compliance with the Court's directions in the Virendra Kumar & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan & Anr, the respondents reviewed the matter and found issues with the petitioners' experience certificates. Show cause notices were issued to the Petitioners, and despite their replies, their services were terminated because their experience certificates were not signed by the appropriate authority as specified in the advertisement. Hence, the present Writ Petition.
The Court perused the decision of the division bench of Rajasthan High Court in Virendra Kumar & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan & Anr and observed, “there is no direction to the respondents to terminate the services of the persons like the petitioners but the direction is only to examine the matter and to discharge the services of those persons who are ineligible or those who made false declaration.”
The Court perused Rule 6 of the Rajasthan Municipalities (Safai Employee Service) Rules, 2012 and said that by no stretch of the imagination, it can be inferred that the certificate should be signed by a particular authority. The Court further noted that since the experience certificate of one year was produced by the petitioners under the signatures of the Sanitary Inspector, the same is meeting the test of eligibility as per the rules.
The Court said that there is nothing on record to show that the certificates are forged or fabricated, therefore, according to the Court it is the petitioners who have the requisite eligibility criteria of experience for appointment to the post of Safai Karamchari.
The Court further noted that the persons who applied for the post of Safai Karamchari belong to the lowest rung of the society and are not literate enough to understand the niceties or effect of the signatures on the experience certificate. “ends of justice will be met if they are allowed to continue on the post of Safai Karamchari shorn of the hyper- technical stand taken by the respondents for terminating their services.”, the Court remarked.
Accordingly, the Court quashed and set aside the termination order.
Finally, the Court allowed the Writ Petitions.
