Inquiry Proves Genuineness Of Certificates, Rajasthan High Court Cancels Termination Of Services Of Safai Karamcharis
A Single Judge Bench of Justice Sudesh Bansal while allowing a batch of Petitions observed that the Safaikaramcharis whose appointment was cancelled due to the allegations of having produced false certificates before the authorities should be allowed to continue in service, counting their service from the date of appointment with all consequential benefits. The Bench held that since the inquiry suggested contrary to the allegations, the termination orders stood defeated.
Background
The appointment of Petitioners as Safai Karamchari was cancelled by orders of termination issued by the Executing Officer Nagar Palika Kekri, on the grounds of non-verification of their experience certificates. After submitting their experience certificates of one year as required, they were appointed as Safai Karamcharis as per the procedure under Rajasthan Safai Karamchari Service Rules, 2012. The Respondents alleged that the certificates produced by the Petitioners were false followed by issuance of notice against the Petitioners by Nagar Palika. They were asked to have the certificates verified within 15 days. Their appointment was cancelled on the ground that the proof provided by them to verify the authenticity of the certificates was not sufficient.
Several Writ Petitions were filed before Division Bench of the High Court challenging the appointment of the Petitioners on multiple grounds including irregularities/ illegalities in adopting the lottery system for selection, appointment of ineligible candidates on account of having more than two children after the cut-off date, transgression by the candidates belonging to reserved category over the seats of General category candidates and submitting false and forged experience certificates etc. The Court partly allowed the Petitions and held,
'The respondents shall also ensure that names of ineligible candidates, or those who made false declarations are suitably removed, in accordance with law; this is subject to the final outcome of the proceedings initiated by such candidates.'
The Court also held,
'In the case of candidates whose names were deleted, it is a matter of record that many of them have approached the court. Their names shall be dealt with in accordance with the final order of the court, in their cases.'
Another Writ Petition was filed by some Private Respondents raising the issue of appointment of ineligible candidates on the post of Safai Karamchari by the Nagar Palika. It was also disposed of, reiterating the aforementioned observations.
Later, on 03.02.2022, a General Body Meeting of Municipal Board, Kekri convened and a Detailed inquiry was conducted in relation to the authenticity and genuineness of the certificates submitted by the Petitioners. The Counsel for the Petitioners, before the Single Judge Bench argued that the certificates of the candidates selected on the post of Safai Karamchari were duly verified after the inquiry.
The instant Petitions before the Single Judge Bench were mainly concerned with the issue of verification/ nonverification of the experience certificates of appointees-petitioners whose appointment was earlier cancelled because of the allegation of having produced false certificates which was later proved otherwise.
Since the case of the Petitioners was before the Court, they were not allowed to continue in service while the other appointees were already serving.
The Counsel for the Petitioners sought the quashing and setting aside of the orders of termination before the Single Judge Bench since the documents were verified to be genuine during the inquiry.
Findings of the Court:
The Court held that the Petitioners were appointed as Safai Karamchari by Municipal Board, Kekri and the appointment was as per the statutory Rules of 2012 (Amended). The appointment was cancelled because of allegations of the having produced false documents. Later, the Municipal Board observed that the experience certificates submitted by petitioners were genuine and valid. The other appointees were allowed to continue their services since they were not a part of the pleadings, however, the Petitioners could not be allowed because of the pendency of litigation in the Courts. The Court held that the Coordinate Bench had already decided the issue of validity of experience certificates of petitioners as per Rules of 2012 on merits in another Writ Petition and the same would be applied to the case of the Petitioners as well.
Observing that there was no controversy between the petitioners and the Municipal Board, Kekri, Ajmer, the Court held that the orders of termination were liable to be quashed.
Making these observations, the Court reiterated that the services of petitioners shall be treated in continuity from the date of their respective appointment orders and all consequential financial benefits shall be accorded to the petitioners.
Accordingly, the Writ Petitions were disposed of.
Case Title: Pawan Lakhan versus The State Of Rajasthan & Ors
Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. M.I. Abbasi Mr. Sudarshan Kumar Laddha
Counsel for the Respondent: Mr. Neeraj Batra, GC Mr. Mahnedra Shah Sr. Adv. assisted by Mr. Kamlesh Sharma Mr. Nakul Bansal Ms. Gunjan Chawla Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh