Nusrat Begum And Others vs State Of Jammu And Kashmir And Others

Rajnesh Oswal, J

The petitioner in SWP No. 2827/2014 has impugned the select list published by the respondent Nos. 1 to 6 in the Daily English Newspaper “Daily Excelsior” in its edition dated 10.09.2014, whereby the official respondents had selected the respondent No. 7 as R-e-T in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur, Zone Nowshera and has further prayed for issuance a direction to the respondents to consider the case of petitioner for engagement as R-e-T in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur, Zone Nowshera

SWP No. 1041/2017 has been filed by the petitioner, who figured as respondent No. 7 in SWP No. 2827/2014, for directing the respondents to release the dues of the petitioner from 26.09.2014 when the petitioner was engaged as ReT.

The controversy involved in both the petitions is the same, as such, both the petitions are being disposed of by the common judgment.

In SWP No. 2827/2014, the petitioner and respondent No. 7 applied for engagement as ReT for New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur, Zone Nowshera. The tentative panel was prepared by the official respondents and the name of the petitioner did not figure in the panel, whereas the respondent No.7 figured at Sr. No. 1 in the panel.

In the tentative panel, a note was appended that the candidature of the petitioner was rejected as Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) was not produced by her. The petitioner filed the objections to the panel that the respondent No. 7, in fact, was a resident of village,Barsala Tehsil Bakori. It was also stated by the petitioner that the respondent No. 7 had obtained his PRC dated 20.11.2013 fraudulently by posing himself a resident of Anayatpur Tehsil Nowshera. As per the tentative panel, the candidates figuring at Sr. No. 2, 3 & 4 were having less marks than the petitioner. The petitioner claims to have represented before the Director School Education, Jammu i.e respondent No. 3 for cancellation of the panel. It has also been stated that one Shah Mohd of village Anayatpur had also filed objections to the tentative panel on the same grounds as projected by the petitioner. Further one Shafiq Mohd had also filed an application before the Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri regarding the PRC of respondent No. 7 and had requested the Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri to pass appropriate orders. It is further averred that the respondent No. 4 had issued tentative select list of the candidates of various schools in District Rajouri including New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera, which was published in English Newspaper, “Daily Excelsior” in its edition dated 10.09.2014 and the respondent No. 7 figured as a selected candidate for New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera. The petitioner further claims to have filed detailed objections to the select list and requested the respondent No. 4 to review the select list and the petitioner be considered for engagement as R-e-T in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera.

The official respondent Nos. 1 to 6 have filed their response, stating therein that the applications of two candidates, namely, Nusrat Begum and Mohd Aslam were provisionally accepted, as they were not in possession of their PRC, with a further direction to them to produce their PRC within a period of 15 days, except educational qualification. Only one candidate, namely, Mohd Aslam had enclosed Under Process certificate in respect of PRC duly signed by the Tehsildar Nowshera and had also enclosed one affidavit, whereas other candidate namely, Nusrat Begum neither enclosed Under Process certificate of PRC, nor PRCs in original,except PRC of her husband. Later, Mohd Aslam produced the PRC within the given time but the petitioner did not produce PRC till display of panel of R-e-T for Village Anayatpur on 02.01.2014.The application of the petitioner-Nusrat Begum, which was provisionally accepted but was rejected subsequently, as she did not provide the PRC within the given time. It is further stated that the respondent No. 7 has already joined in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera on 26.09.2014. The respondent Nos. 1 to 6 have placed on record the joining report of the respondent No. 7.

In SWP No. 1041/2017, the petitioner has prayed for directing the respondents to release his salary on the ground that he has already joined as R-e-T, New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera on 26.09.2014. The petitioner has also placed on record order 25.09.2014, whereby the petitioner was engaged as R-e-T in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera and has also placed on record the attendance certificate issued in his favour.

The respondents have filed the response stating therein that the petitioner had joined in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera on 26.09.2014. It is further stated that one Nusrat Begum, the petitioner in SWP No. 2827/2014, has filed the writ petition and pursuant to the order dated 08.10.2014 issued by this Court, the respondents have not paid the honorarium to the petitioner.

Mrs. Surinder Kour, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner in SWP No. 2827/2014 has submitted that the respondent No. 7 was not the resident of village Anayatpur and as such, he could not have been selected as R-e-T in New Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Nowshera and further that the petitioner was having more marks than other candidates in the tentative panel, who had applied for the post in question, but she was wrongly been ignored.

Mr. Achal Sharma, learned counsel for the in SWP No. 1041/2017 and respondent No. 7 in SWP No. 2827/2014, has submitted that petitioner (Nusrat Begum) has not chosen to assail the appointment order of the petitioner i.e. Mohd Aslam and there is nothing on record to show that the petitioner-Nusrat Begam had any time filed objections to the select list. He further submitted that the petitioner-Mohd Aslam had surrendered his PRC as is evident from the surrender certificate dated 10.10.2012 prior to the issuance of the notification dated 13.10.2012, whereby the applications were invited for engagement of R-e-T for school under reference.

On the other hand, Mr. Adarsh Bhagat, learned GA submitted that the petitioner-Mohd Aslam has been working with the official respondents ever since 2014 and the petitioner-Nusrat Begum has never challenged the rejection of her candidature as R-e-T in new Boys Primary School, Anayatpur Zone Nowshera, therefore, the present writ petition is not maintainable.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

From the record, it is evident that the petitioner-Nusrat Begum has not challenged the engagement order of the respondent No. 7 i.e. petitioner in SWP No. 1041/2017 and has only challenged the select list published in the English Newspaper in its edition dated 10.09.2014. After perusing the record, this Court finds that the petitioner had not submitted PRC certificate alongwith her application form, except PRC of her husband and due to that reason, her candidature was rejected.

Be that as it may, the sole ground raised by the petitioner for the purpose of throwing challenge to the engagement of respondent No. 7 is that he was possessing the PRC for village Barsala Tehsil Bakori and he managed the second PRC fraudulently. A perusal of the record reveals that the respondent No. 7 had already submitted the Under Process certificate in respect of PRC of village Anayatpur and had surrendered the PRC dated 11.12.2004, which is evident from the certificate dated 10.10.2012 issued by the Tehsildar Kotranka Budhal. The petitioner-Nusrat Begam has also not challenged the rejection of her candidature at the time of preparation of tentative panel because of non-furnishing of PRC, as such, this Court does not deem it proper to show indulgence at this stage, more particularly, when the respondent No. 7 (petitioner in SWP 1041/2017) has been working with the official respondents since 26.09.2014 and that too without any honorarium.

In view of the above, the writ petition bearing No. 2827/2014 filed by the petitioner-Nusrat Begum is dismissed and the writ petition bearing No. 1041/2017 filed by Mohd Aslam is allowed and the official respondents are directed to release the honorarium/salary including all dues within a period one month from the date copy of this order is made available by the petitioner to the respondent Nos. 3 & 5.

Record be returned to Mr. Adarsh Bhagat, learned GA.