Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules | Age Relaxation For Appointment Cannot Be Claimed Twice Under Two Different Categories: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that a candidate applying for a post under the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996, can only seek relaxation under one category and cannot avail further benefits by claiming relaxation on two counts.

In this case the candidates, who had applied for the position of Lower Division Clerk (LDC), were seeking age relaxation on two counts, firstly as per proviso(x) of rule 265 for no recruitment having taken place for three years preceding 2013 and also under the proviso (xi) for serving in the Panchayati Raj Department on contractual basis for a period of five years. Therefore, the petitioners contended that they are entitled to the age relaxation of three years and further five years.

Rejecting the contention, the bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur said,

“The Rule (Rule 265) envisages the conditions in which a person is entitled to age relaxation and if benefit is granted to a person who is falling in a particular category, he cannot ask for the operation of another category to his benefit/credit.”

The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by candidates working on different posts with Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department ,seeking age relaxation for the post of LDC advertised in 2013, as their candidature was rejected for being overage.

A bare perusal of the Rule 265 “makes it abundantly clear that a person who has attained the age of 18 years and must not have attained the age of 35 years on the first day of January following the last date fixed for receipt of applications will be entitled for appointment on the post advertised by the State, however, certain provisos prescribe the upper age limit for grant of relaxation in the age”, the court explained.

The Rule itself takes care of the situation that if the State fails or is unable to conduct the recruitment process for some years (longer period), proviso (x) to Rule 265 of the Rules of 1996 provides for age relaxation to such candidates to the extent of three years in upper age limit, the court observed.

In the present case, since the recruitment was not conducted for a period of three years, therefore, the persons similarly situated to the petitioners were entitled for grant of relaxation to a period of three years, the court opined.

Simultaneously, proviso (xi) also provides for grant of maximum five years period of age relaxation to the persons who are working on different posts in the State of Rajasthan in different departments on contract basis, the bench noted.

“The Rule does not prescribe anything, whereby it can be said that if a candidate is falling in more than one category, the age relaxation can be granted considering two different proviso for the benefit of that candidate," said the court.

In light of the above the Court concluded that, “The petitioners who are getting the age relaxation as per their working in the State Government for a period of five years on contract basis are entitled to get relaxation in upper age limit of five years and not for any additional benefit of upper age limit to the extent of three years for non-holding of recruitment process by the State for three years.”

Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed.

Case Title:Dhuleshwar Ghogra & Ors. v. State Of Rajasthan & Ors.

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