LAXMIDHAR DAS Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Review Petition has been filed by one Laxmidhar Das, who was opposite party no.5 in OJC No.13273 of 2001, with a prayer to review the order dated 5.5.2005 passed by this Court in the said writ application.

(2.) Heard Mr. S.S. Das, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. B.P. Pradhan, learned Additional Government Advocate for opposite party nos.1 to 3 and Mr. A.P. Bose, learned counsel for opposite party nos.6 to 12. None appeared on behalf of opposite party nos.4 and 5.

(3.) Mr. Das, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that on 8.7.2000, Pandua Grama Panchayat vide Annexure-1 resolved to appoint a permanent Secretary in the said Grama Panchayat after withdrawal of ban order by the Government. Vide Annexure-2, an advertisement was made on 9.7.2000 fixing various eligibility criteria for the purpose of recruitment of a whole time Secretary. The said advertisement was sent to the offices of the District Panchayat Officer, Jagatsinghpur, SubDivisional Panchayat Officer, Block Development Officer, Kujanga and to all the Sarpanchs of different Grama Panchayats falling under Kujanga Panchayat Samiti. A copy of the said advertisement was also sent to the Employment Exchange Officer, Paradeep. As per the advertisement under Annexure-2, it was made clear that the candidates should have passed matriculate Examination and in case, the candidates with matriculation qualification did not apply, candidates with Class-VII pass and above could also apply. The advertisement dated 9.7.2000 also made it clear that the last date for submitting application form was 24.7.2000. According to Mr. Das, the petitioner put in his application form within due date and supplied necessary certificates. In his application form, the petitioner clearly indicated that his educational qualification was Class- IX pass. In support of that, the petitioner supplied his School Leaving Certificate. According to Mr. Das, only three candidates including the petitioner had put in their application forms for the post of Secretary of Pandua Grama Panchayat. Further according to him none of the candidates was a matriculate. On 25.7.2000, Pandua Grama Panchayat resolved to conduct the necessary tests on 28.7.2000. Accordingly, in the said tests, the petitioner secured highest marks, i.e., 18 out of total 20. This fact has been reflected in Annexure-3. Since the petitioner was found to be more meritorious amongst the available candidates, a Resolution was passed by the Grama Panchayat to appoint the petitioner as Secretary of the Panchayat. In the Resolution under Annexure-3, it was also resolved to write to the District Panchayat Officer opposite party no.2 for his approval. Accordingly, vide Annexure-4 dated 30.6.2001 the appointment of the petitioner was approved by the District Panchayat Officer with a consolidated pay of Rs.2200/- per month until further orders on certain terms and conditions. One of such condition was to produce the original H.S.C. Examination Certificate. Mr. S.S. Das further submitted that though the petitioner had never claimed that he had passed matriculation Examination, however, a strange condition by way of a direction to produce H.S.C. Certificate was put in the approval order. Mr. Das reiterated that a perusal of the advertisement under Annexure-2 made it clear that in case matriculate candidates were not available, the authorities would consider the case of those candidates, who had passed Class-VII. Since the petitioner had passed Class-IX as indicated earlier, he was rightly allowed to participate in the test conducted by the Pandua Grama Panchayat. Further, Mr. Das submitted that proviso to Rule- 212(b) also made it clear that if any matriculate candidates were not available, a Grama Panchayat can take into consideration the candidates, who had passed M.E. Examination or any other equivalent Examination. Therefore, the petitioner was legally selected in accordance with law and was correctly appointed against the post of Secretary.