R D DEVMANI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By filing instant petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner has prayed to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order directing the respondents to operate the waiting list prepared by the Gujarat Public Service Commission pursuant to Special Advertisement No.129/89-90 and appoint the petitioner on the post of Inspector of notified factories. The petitioner has further prayed to direct the respondents to treat the waiting list prepared by the Gujarat Public Service Commission pursuant to Special Advertisement No.129/89-90 as operating and restrain them from treating the said waiting list as having lapsed after June 20, 1992.

(2.) The Labour & Employment Department of the Government of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, had sent a requisition dated October 21, 1989 to the Gujarat Public Service Commission ("the Commission" for short) requesting the Commission to take appropriate steps for the recruitment of the candidates for three posts of Inspector of notified factories, as special drive for recruitment of reserved category candidates. Out of these three posts, one was reserved for the candidate belonging to the category of Scheduled Castes whereas remaining two posts were reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes. Accordingly, the Commission had issued Advertisement No.129/89-90 on November 22, 1989 inviting applications from the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. A copy of the said advertisement is produced by the petitioner at Annexure-A to the petition. Pursuant to the said advertisement, the petitioner, who belongs to Scheduled Caste, had applied for the post of Inspector of notified factories. After completion of the selection procedure, the Commission had prepared two lists, namely, a select list containing names of three candidates and a waiting list containing names of four candidates, according to merits, and the name of the petitioner was mentioned at Serial No.1 in the waiting list. Annexure-B to the petition, which is intimation dated June 25, 1990 given to the petitioner, would indicate that the waiting list was to be operative till June 20, 1992. Out of the three candidates whose names were mentioned in the select list, two were belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and one was belonging to the Scheduled Caste. All the three candidates were appointed vide Government Notification dated December 17, 1990.

(3.) The record of the case would indicate that the concerned department of the Government had again sent another requisition to the Commission with a request to take appropriate action for recruitment of candidates for 13 posts of Inspector of notified factories. Out of 13 posts, one was reserved for a candidate belonging to Scheduled Castes whereas two posts were reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes and one post was reserved for a candidate of Socially & Economically Backward Class whereas rest of the posts were meant for candidates belonging to general category. Accordingly, the Commission had issued Advertisement No.189/89-90 dated February 15, 1990 inviting applications from the qualified candidates. It is an admitted position that the petitioner had not applied for the post of Inspector of notified factories pursuant to the Advertisement No.189/89-90. The petitioner has claimed that the petitioner was already selected by the Commission and was placed at Serial No.1 in the waiting list and, therefore, the Government was not justified in sending fresh requisition for appointment of candidate belonging to Scheduled Castes on the posts of Inspector of notified factories and that the petitioner was entitled to be appointed on the said post as the waiting list prepared pursuant to Advertisement No.129/89-90 was operative till June 20, 1992. As the petitioner was not appointed on the post of Inspector of notified factories, he had made a representation to the Government requesting the Government to appoint him on the said post. However, by a communication dated March 9, 1992, which is produced on record of the case at Annexure-H, the petitioner was informed that in view of orders of Government, it was not possible to appoint the petitioner on the post of Inspector of notified factories. The petitioner has averred in the petition that in view of specific policy of the Government of filling in backlog vacancies of SC/ST candidates, the petitioner, who was at Serial No.1 in the waiting list, should have been appointed and, therefore, direction deserves to be issued to the Government to appoint the petitioner on the post in question. The petitioner has asserted that it is obligatory on the part of each department of the Government to fill in the vacancies in case of direct recruitment from the existing waiting list if the waiting list is in operation and, therefore, the respondents should be directed to (a) operate the waiting list prepared by the Commission pursuant to the Special Advertisement No.129/89-90 and (b) appoint the petitioner on the post of Inspector of notified factories. Under the circumstances, the petitioner has filed instant petition and claimed the reliefs to which, reference is made earlier.