VIRENDRA KUMARI Vs. STATE OF H P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is aggrieved since she is made ineligible to apply for the posts of Arts and Craft Teacher in view of the recent amendment introduced in the Himachal Pradesh Elementary Education Department/Arts and Craft Teacher (Class III Non-Gazetted) Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 2010. As per the said amendment, it is now prescribed that the applicant for the post should have minimum of 50% marks in the 10+2 examination. It is the contention of the petitioner that either when she joined the Course or at the time when she passed the Diploma Course in Arts and Craft and also having undergone the study of two years, there was no such requirement. It is also submitted that as per the pre-amended Rules thousands of teachers have been recruited in Himachal Pradesh and they are continuing in service as such. Still further it is submitted that even if such amendment is introduced, it should apply only in respect of the vacancies which arose after the amendment. Yet another submission is that hundreds of vacancies which arose in the past years have been accumulated and recruitment presently sought to be made is in respect of those vacancies only. In other words, had the respondents taken timely action to make the recruitment every year in respect of the vacancies available in those years, the petitioners could have applied and they could have been considered for appointment. THErefore, it is submitted that in any case, the effect of amendment regarding 50% marks in 10+2 should apply only in respect of the vacancies which arise after the amendment, which came into effect only w.e.f. 17.5.2010.

(2.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner placed reliance mainly on three decisions of the Supreme Court.

(3.) THE third decision is in Arjun Singh Rathore and others vs. B.N. Chaturvedi and others, (2007) 11 SCC 605 wherein at paras 5 and 6, it is held as follows: