Rajasthan High Court Strikes Down Restriction Placed On Govt School Teachers’ Appointment After Declaration Of Results

Rajasthan High Court has recently struck down a clause incorporated in the appointment orders much after the declaration of results, which in turn, restricted the relieving of incumbent teachers currently working at Government English Medium Schools who had earlier duly qualified for appointment at other schools.

The single-judge bench of Justice Arun Bhansali also pointed out that the issuance of such a restriction post the selection process, which effectively disqualified the eligible candidates, amounts to ‘changing the rules of the game after the game is over’.

“…it was necessary for the respondents to have first formulated the instructions in terms of Rule 10 and thereafter issue an advertisement. Once, no such restriction was imposed in the advertisement and the petitioners applied pursuant to the advertisement(s), were subjected to written test, stood in the merit and were issued orders of appointment, but placing restriction of not relieving them, the same clearly amounts to changing the rules of game after the game is over”, the bench sitting at Jodhpur observed while noting that the conduct of the authorities was not justified even if the restriction intended to be put in place were to be hypothetically held as justifiable.

The petitioners contesting Clause 11 inserted in the appointment orders had already been working at Mahatma Gandhi Government (English Medium) Schools. While so, respondent authorities issued advertisements in June inviting applications from the incumbent employees for various posts at Mahatma Gandhi Government (English Medium) School and Swami Vivekanand Government Model School (‘SVGMS’) and all other Government English medium schools. The advertisements indicated that the incumbents, teachers and employees of the Department would be eligible to apply and attend the exams and that guidelines on the procedure would be issued separately.

On 24.10.2023, invoking the powers under Rule 10 of Rajasthan Civil Service (Special Selection and Special Condition of Services for Appointment of Personnel in English Medium Schools) Rules, 2023, the Director of Secondary Education issued a direction to the Joint Directors in various Divisions that those incumbents who have already been selected through interview and currently holding posts in English Medium Schools cannot be relieved.

While allowing the writ petitions and setting aside Clause 11 of the appointment order, the court also briefly discussed Rule 8 of the 2023 Rules which talks about the eligibility of selection for posts in Schedule 1.

“The Rule specifies that an incumbent of the Department, preferably of the district in which vacancies are to be filled, are eligible for posting/appointment in English medium schools. Admittedly, the advertisement(s) issued by the respondents only indicated the said eligibility. As the English medium schools are under the School Education Department, Rajasthan as is evident from the Rules of 2023, the petitioners working at Mahatma Gandhi Government (English Medium) Schools, were all incumbents of the Department and as such in terms of the advertisement(s) were clearly eligible”, the court further added.

When the candidates filled up their application forms, they mentioned their present place of posting, which in itself denotes their eligibility for posting, the court noted. Therefore, the respondent authorities cannot later take recourse to the reasoning that appointments pursuant to fresh advertisements will result in new vacancies being created at the schools from which they are to be relieved.

Reference was also made to Sureshkumar Lalitkumar Patel & Ors. v. State of Gujarat & Ors., 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 137 wherein the court held that an advertisement, made pursuant to a notification, binds the parties; it has got all the trappings of a statutory prescription unless it becomes contrary to either a rule or an Act.

“The written test was held in the month of August, 2023 and whereafter the result was declared and it is only after the declaration of the result, just prior to issuance of the orders of appointment that further directions dated 24.09.2023 (Annex.R/4) placing the restriction, noticed hereinbefore, was introduced, which was already too late and as such the restriction imposed in the orders of appointment, based on the said instructions, cannot be sustained”, the court concluded while directing the authorities to permit the relieving of the petitioners and let them join the new schools as per the appointment orders.

Case Title: Vikram Singh & Anr v. State of Rajasthan & Ors And Connected Matters

Case No: S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 16275/2023 & Connected Matters

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