Babu Lal Puniya And Ors vs State Of Rajasthan And Ors

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These writ petitions have been filed by the petitioners aggrieved against orders passed by the respondents, whereby the petitioners have been",,,,,,

transferred from Primary Education to Secondary Education set-up.,,,,,,

It is, inter alia, indicated in the writ petitions that the petitioners were selected for appointment under the provisions of the Rajasthan Education",,,,,,

Subordinate Service Rules, 1971 (‘the Rules of 1971’) and were appointed as Teacher Grade-III by the District Education Officer (Elementary",,,,,,

Education). The petitioners continued to serve with the department when orders were passed by District Education Officer (Headquarters),",,,,,,

Secondary Education purportedly under provisions of Rule 6D of the Rules of 1971, whereby the petitioners were subjected to counseling and were",,,,,,

posted in various Senior Secondary Schools by the orders passed by the said authority.,,,,,,

Whereafter, on realizing that the petitioners were already recruited under the provisions of the Rules of 1971 and could not be subjected to provisions",,,,,,

of Rule 6D of the Rules of 1971, fresh orders were passed by the respondents, wherein in the original order passed, one more column was added,",,,,,,

wherein it was indicated that insofar as the petitioners were concerned, they were being transferred from Primary Education to Secondary Education",,,,,,

and the place of postings allotted based on the counseling, were maintained.",,,,,,

Though the challenge laid by the petitioners to the validity of the orders dated 14.06.2019 has been accepted by a coordinate Bench of this Court in a,,,,,,

bunch of writ petitions led by Gena Ram Choudhary v. State of Raj. & Ors.: SBCW No. 8085/2019, decided on 21.06.2019, learned counsel for the",,,,,,

petitioners insisted on making submissions regarding the competence of the authority to pass the orders impugned and decision thereon.,,,,,,

In the present writ petitions, submission have been made that the petitioners have been subjected to provisions of Rule 6D, which are not applicable to",,,,,,

them and, therefore, the order impugned deserves to quashed and set aside.",,,,,,

Further submission has been made that the appointing authority of the petitioners is the District Education Officer (Boys)/ District Education Officer,,,,,,

(Girls)/ District Education Officer (Primary Education), whereas, the orders impugned have been passed by the District Education Officer",,,,,,

(Headquarters), Secondary Education and as such as the orders have not been passed by the appointing authority, the same are bad in law and,",,,,,,

therefore, the same deserve to be quashed and set aside.",,,,,,

Submissions have also been made in the writ petitions seeking to question the procedure adopted by the respondents while granting postings with,,,,,,

regard to inter se seniority and that despite availability of vacant positions nearby, the same were not projected.",,,,,,

A preliminary reply to the writ petition has been filed by the respondents denying the averments made in the writ petition and supporting the orders,,,,,,

passed. However, as the issue pertaining to the competence of the District Education Officer (Headquarters), Secondary Education was not",,,,,,

answered, under the directions of the Court, an additional affidavit has been filed by the respondents supporting the competence in this regard.",,,,,,

It is, inter alia, submitted that way back in the year 1983, pursuant to Rule 2(a) of the Rules of 1971, the powers of appointing authority were",,,,,,

delegated to Joint Director/Dy. Director and District Education Officers. Prior to 1997-98, Primary Education Department and Secondary Education",,,,,,

Department were functioning as one Department viz. Primary and Secondary Education Department, in the year 1997 different heads of Department",,,,,,

for Primary and Secondary Education were appointed and the work was distributed by order dated 28.11.1997.,,,,,,

Submissions have been made that vide order dated 28.11.1997, the nomenclature of the post of District Education Officer (Boys) was changed to",,,,,,

District Education Officer (Secondary) and as such, only nomenclature was changed. Whereafter, it is submitted that the State Government issued",,,,,,

guidelines dated 08.08.2018, Whereby the offices at the Block, District and Zone Level were reconstituted and Integrated Education Sankuls were",,,,,,

established, whereby, while establishing offices of District Education Officer (Headquarters), Secondary Education and District Education Officer",,,,,,

(Headquarters), Primary Education, the rest of the offices of District Education Officer (Secondary Education), Districts Education Officer (Primary",,,,,,

Education) etc. were abolished.,,,,,,

References has also been made to the work distribution between the District Education Officers (Headquarters), Primary Education and District",,,,,,

Education Officer (Headquarters), Secondary Education and it is submitted that it is only the District Education Officer (Headquarters), Secondary",,,,,,

Education, who has the jurisdiction to pass the orders. It was prayed that the writ petitions deserve to be dismissed as the issue raised therein has no",,,,,,

substance.,,,,,,

Submission have also been made that the various pleas raised regarding the seniority etc., be not entertained as the petitioners have alternative remedy",,,,,,

by way of appeal before the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal and on that count also, the petitions deserve to be dismissed.",,,,,,

I have considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and have perused the material available on record.,,,,,,

The issue raised by the petitioners regarding subjecting them to provisions of Rule 6D of the Rules of 1971 has lost significance once the respondents,,,,,,

have issued orders indicating the transfer of the petitioners from Primary Education to Secondary Education and despite order in the case of Gena,,,,,,

Ram Choudhary (supra), the petitioners instead of relying on the said order have argued only on the competence of the authority.",,,,,,

Insofar as the various issues raised by the petitioners on the merit of the orders of transfer based on seniority etc. is concerned, the orders passed by",,,,,,

the respondents are open to appeal under the provisions of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Service Matters Appellate Tribunals) Act, 1976 and in view",,,,,,

of availability of an alternative remedy, there is no reason for this court to entertain the present writ petition on the grounds as raised.",,,,,,

Insofar as the issue of jurisdiction raised by the petitioners is concerned, the plea raised is that the petitioners, were appointed as Teachers Grade-III",,,,,,

by the then District Education Officers, who were either designated as District Education Officers (Boys)/ District Education Officers (Girls)/ District",,,,,,

Education Officers (Primary Education) or District Education Officers (Elementary Education), as such they could not have been ordered to be",,,,,,

transferred from Primary Education to Secondary Education set-up by District Education Officer (Headquarters), Secondary Education and,",,,,,,

therefore, the order is bad. The plea raised in this regard is baseless.",,,,,,

The appointing authority has been defined under Rule 2(a) of the Rules of 1971, wherein the same has been defined as ‘the Director of Primary and",,,,,,

Secondary Education and includes any other officer to whom such powers in the behalf have been delegated by a special or general order of the,,,,,,

Government’.,,,,,,

From the material, which has been placed on record, it is apparent that though initially there was one Director of Primary and Secondary Education",,,,,,

and in the year 1983 vide order dated 30.11.1983, the power of appointing authority was delegated to Joint Director/Dy. Director and District",,,,,,

Education Officers. Subsequent thereto, the positions/offices of District Education Officer were either bifurcated into Secondary/Primary/Elementary",,,,,,

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