SHUDHANSHU GOUTAM Vs. STATE OF M.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard finally with the consent of both the parties.

(2.) This order shall govern disposal of writ petition No.25926/2025, WP No.26989/2025, WP No.27322/2025, WP No.28374/2025, WP No.29171/2025 and WP No.29957/2025. For the sake of convenience, facts of WP No.26989/2025 are being taken note of.

(3.) The facts in a nutshell reveal that the petitioners were engaged as Vocational Teachers/Trainers by Vocational Trainer Providers (hereinafter referred to as VTP) in terms of the guidelines dtd. 24/3/2017 (Annexure P/1). The State of Madhya Pradesh in the year 2019 decided to appoint Vocational Teachers/Trainers at local level and accordingly in compliance of a direction dtd. 18/10/2019 by the State Government, Higher Secondary Schools conducted a process of recruitment of Vocational Teachers/Trainers. The petitioners, as stated above, were also appointed and were continuing as such. Unfortunately, an order dtd. 17/7/2021 was issued by which an attempt was made by the State to replace one set of Vocational Teachers/Trainers by another set of Vocational Teachers/Trainers, who are contractual employees. The said action was assailed by filing a petition before this Court. Before this Court, respondent/state submitted an undertaking in writing in the form of an affidavit and as per said undertaking, the petitioners were required to submit their credential before the committee comprising of concerned District Education Officer and representatives of outsourcing agency to scrutinize the minimum eligibility qualification and it was submitted in the undertaking, that if the petitioners are found eligible, then without undergoing further with any selection process, they will be taken by the concerned VTPs. In terms of the said undertaking, the said writ petition filed by the petitioner vide WP-13717- 2021 (Deepti Pandey and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.) was disposed of and the petitioners were allowed to continue as Vocational Teachers. Later on, again similar action was taken recourse to by the respondents by issuing advertisement for selection as Vocational Teachers. The said action was again assailed by the present petitioners by filing Writ Petition before this Court vide WP No.18481 of 2024 (Deepti Pandey and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.) and connected petitions. All the petitions were clubbed together and were decided by an order passed by the Single Bench of this Court and in view of the undertaking which was given by the respondents before the Division Bench in previous round of litigation, the respondents were directed to reconsider their action. The order passed by the Single Bench in WP No.18481 of 2024 (Deepti Pandey and Ors. Vs. Union of India and Ors.) and connected petitions, was complied with and pursuant to which an order dtd. 10/9/2024, was passed and the petitioners herein were allowed to continue in the capacity of Vocational Teachers. Subsequently, again an advertisement has been issued in a similar manner by VTPs by which an attempt are being made to recruit new set of Vocational Trainers on contractual basis. Thus assailing the advertisement, these petitions have been filed by the petitioners.