Nikhil Choudhary vs State of Rajasthan and Others

This writ petition has been filed by Nikhil Choudhary, challenging validity of amendment in prevailing Rules 12, 16 and 16-A of the Rajasthan Labour and Welfare Service Rules, 1958 and the Schedule appended thereto, and also the amendment in the Schedule appended to the Rajasthan Subordinate Services (Recruitment and Other Service Conditions) Rules, 2001. Prayer is also made for a direction to respondents to fill up 16 posts of Labour Welfare Officer, and 151 posts of Labour Inspector, which have been advertised vide corrigendum dated 30.08.2013, to be filled in from non-specialized candidates, who only have the graduation degree, in the combined competitive examination of RAS & RTS, 2013, under the original Rules applicable prior to issuance of notification dated 28.03.2013.

The respondents, vide advertisement No. 02/2013-14, invited application for 233 posts of the Sate Services and 490 posts of Subordinate Services. The respondents, vide corrigendum dated 30.08.2013, also added 16 posts of Labour Welfare Officers and 151 posts of Labour Inspectors in the RAS & RTS Examination, 2013. Before issuing the corrigendum dated 30.08.2013, the respondent, vide two notifications dated 28.03.2013, promulgated the Rajasthan Labour and Welfare Service (Amendment) Rules, 2013 (for short, ''the Amendment Rules of 2013'') to amend the Rules of 1958, and the Rajasthan Subordinate Service (Recruitment and Other Service Conditions (First Amendment) Rules, 2013 (for short, ''the First Amendment Rules of 2013''), to amend the Rajasthan Subordinate Services (Recruitment and Other Service Conditions) Rules, 2001 (for short, ''the Rules of 2001'').

Rule 12 of the Rules of 1958 provides for academic and technical qualifications. According thereto, a candidate for recruitment to the post of Labour Welfare Officer must hold a degree in Arts, Science or Commerce from a recognised University established by law in India, or a degree of a foreign University recognised as equivalent thereto by the Government, along with: Degree, Diploma or Certificate of training in Labour Welfare or Labour Laws or Social Welfare recognised by the Government; or Degree in Law from a recognised University established by law in India or possess a foreign qualification recognised as equivalent thereto by the Government, OR must possess a Post-Graduate Degree in Sociology or Social Work or Economics with Labour as a Special paper in any of these subjects, from a recognised University established by law in India, and working knowledge of Hindi written in Devnagri Script and knowledge of Rajasthani Culture.

Rule 16 of the Rules of 1958 provides that applications for recruitment to the Service shall be invited by the Commission by advertising the vacancies to be so filled in the Rajasthan Gazette and in such other manner as they may deem fit. Proviso second thereto stipulates that the Commission may make selection for the post of Labour Welfare Officer along with the selections for the post of Labour Inspectors, which posts are in subordinate Service and for which same eligibility conditions for direct recruitment are prescribed, by holding a combined competitive examination in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the Rules of 1958.

Rule 16A of the Rules of 1958 provides that Syllabus for examination for recruitment to the Service shall be as specified in Schedule attached to the Rules of 1958.

Rule 3 of the Rules of Amendment Rules, 2013 provides that the existing Rule 12, except proviso of the said rules shall be substituted by the following, namely:

"12. Academic and technical qualification.- For direct recruitment to the post of Labour Welfare Officer qualification shall be as laid down in the Rajasthan State and Subordinate Services (Direct Recruitment by Combined Competitive Examination) Rules, 1999." (for short, ''the Rules of 1999''). Rule 4 of the Amendment Rules of 2013 provides that the existing second proviso to Rule 16 of the said Rules shall be deleted. Rule 5 of the Amendment Rules of 2013 provides that the existing rule 16A of the said rules shall be deleted. Rule 6 of the Amendment Rules deleted the existing Schedule appended to the Rules of 1958.

Rule 2 of the First Amendment Rules of 2013 provides that in the Schedule appended to the Rules of 2001 under the heading "LABOUR DEPARTMENT SECTION" the existing serial number I and entries thereto shall be substituted thus, the post of Labour Inspector shall be filled in 100% by Combined Competitive Examination in accordance with the provisions laid down in the Rules of 1999, out of which 12.5% of posts, shall be reserved for substantive ministerial employees of the labour department. The qualification shall be as laid down in Rule 12 of the Rules of 1999.

Shri Kailash Choudhary, learned counsel for the petitioner, argued that qualification for the post of Labour Welfare Officer before amendment dated 28.03.2011, was, apart from Graduation in any stream, also required diploma or certificate or training in Labour Welfare or Labour Laws or Social Welfare from any University recognized by the Government. Rule 16 prescribes same eligibility conditions for the post of Labour Inspector. Whereas, according to notification dated 28.03.2013, Rule 16-A and existing Schedule stand deleted from the original Rules. Now result would be that any candidate having graduation in any stream, would become eligible for appointment on the post of Land Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector.

Learned counsel for petitioners argued that nature of duties and responsibilities assigned to Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector is of technical cadre, which requires specialization in relevant field i.e. labour laws, with insight into Labour Welfare laws. The nature of work, duties and responsibilities assigned to the post of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector is the same as before issue of notification dated 28.03.2013. There is no change in their duties. The services of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector are of specialized cadre, like that of Doctors, Advocates, Chartered Accountants. They have to implement labour laws, which requires specification as prescribed under the previous rules. The Factories Act, 1948 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 define the duties and responsibilities of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector, which can be performed efficiently only by specialized skilled person. It appears that the amendments in question have been made only in order to increase number of vacancies in RAS and allied services, so as to get benefit in the legislative assembly election.

Learned counsel for petitioner argued that due to specialized cadre of service, the Union Public Service Commission and other State Public Service Commissions prescribed academic and technical qualification for the post of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector as prescribed by the Rajasthan Labour and Welfare Service Rules, 1958 prior to notification dated 28.03.2013. On the one hand, the respondents have constituted specialized services, namely, Protection Officers having academic qualification in relevant stream of Sociology/social work/Psychology and, on the other hand, by inserting amendment in the Rules of 1958, it has deleted the clause of technical qualification for the posts of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector, which was necessary for effective implementation of labour laws. Before amending the Rules vide notification dated 28.03.2013, the respondents have neither sought opinion of an expert committee in this regard nor gave opportunity of hearing to candidates having specified degree/diploma in labour laws. By way of amendment, the respondents have opened the said recruitment to the candidates of general stream, which made the studies of petitioner under PGDLL as futile.

Shri Inderjeet Singh, learned Additional Advocate General for respondent No. 1 State, and Shri M.F. Baig, learned counsel for respondent No. 2 RPSC, opposed the writ petition and submitted that the posts of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector have also been included in the purview of the Rajasthan State & Subordinate Services (Direct Recruitment by Combined Competitive Examinations) Rules, 1999 (for short, ''the Rules of 1999''). Schedule-I appended to the Rules of 1999 has been amended in order to include the post of Labour Welfare Officer under the caption "Rajasthan Labour and Welfare Service" at Serial No. 17 therein vide notification dated 28.03.2013. Schedule-II of the Rules of 1999 has also been amended vide notification dated 28.03.2013 so as to include the post of Labour Inspector under the caption "Rajasthan Subordinate Services (Recruitment and Other Service Conditions) Rules, 2001". The Government has taken decision consciously because 16 posts of Labour Welfare Officers and 151 posts of Labour Inspectors were lying vacant for a long time. These posts were to be filled up by conduct of competitive examination, therefore, amendment in the Rules of 1999 became necessary. The purpose was to ensure that the posts which have been lying vacant for a long time, are filled in through the Rajasthan Public Service Commission by direct recruitment. The work of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector is almost same.

Shri Inderjeet Singh, learned Additional Advocate General, further submitted that the officers of the Rajasthan State and Subordinate Officers perform the work on administrative side and also as quasi-judicial authorities under various laws including, Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, Rajasthan Tenancy Act, Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Act, Rajasthan Cooperative Act, Rajasthan Excise Act etc. Therefore, the contention of petitioner that a person must possess the degree of law for performing the duties of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector, has no force.

Learned Additional Advocate General, in support of the argument, has relied on a division bench judgment of this court dated 26.02.2015 in a bunch of special appeals, leading one being D.B. Special Appeal (Writ) No. 733/2014 - Managing Committee, Badhir Vidhyala Vs. Commissioner, Elementary Education, Govt. of Raj. Bikaner & Another.

We have given our anxious consideration to rival submissions and perused the material on record.

Petitioner has even though challenged the validity of amendment in the Rules 12, 16 and 16A of the Rules of 1958 and Schedule-I appended thereto, but at the same time he has not questioned competence of the Government in making such amendment. It is essentially further of the Government to decide as to in what manner the recruitment to the post of Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector is to be made. If, as per earlier mode, recruitment could not take place timely and was getting delayed leading to accumulation of vacancies in respective cadres, the Government would be well advised to include these two posts in the purview of the Rules of 1999 for conduct of periodical competitive examination by the respondent RPSC. The Government, for that purpose, has amended not only Schedule-I appended to the Rules of 1999 to include the post of Labour Welfare Officer under the caption "Rajasthan Labour and Welfare Service", but also amended Schedule-II appended to the Rules of 1999 to include the post of Labour Inspector under the caption "Rajasthan Subordinate Services (Recruitment and Other Service Conditions) Rules, 2001." While Schedule-I appended to the Rules of 1999 contains the posts of State Services, Schedule-II appended thereto contains the posts of Subordinate and allied services. The aforesaid amendments, do not in any manner, take away the eligibility of the petitioner. It merely expands the scope of competition by making even those candidates eligible, who do not have degree, diploma or certificate of training in Labour Welfare or Labour Laws or Social Welfare recognised by the Government. Knowledge of these subjects may be derived even without there being a formal degree, diploma or certificate in the field because the officers of the Rajasthan State and Subordinate services, while performing the duties on administrative side are also assigned the work of quasi-judicial nature under the various laws including the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, Rajasthan Tenancy Act, Rajasthan Commercial Taxes Act, Rajasthan Cooperative Act, Rajasthan Excise Act, etc. It cannot therefore be countenanced that such skills can be acquired by Labour Welfare Officer and Labour Inspector only after he/she has obtained the degree, diploma or certificate in labour welfare laws/social welfare laws. The amendment sought for cannot therefore be said to be arbitrary or otherwise discriminatory. The argument that affected candidates having specified degree or diploma under labour laws should have been provided opportunity of hearing before bringing the said amendments and that such amendments, without hearing them, would be violative of principles of natural justice, cannot be accepted. It does not debar such candidates from participating in the process of selection. The amendments merely expand the scope of eligibility to other open market candidates and there was no need to provide opportunity of hearing to them prior to making amendment.

In view of above discussion, we hold the amendments intra vires of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The argument to the contrary is rejected.

The writ petition fails and same is dismissed. Stay application, filed therewith, is also dismissed.