Rukma Devi @APPELLANT@Hash State Of Rajasthan

This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking a direction to the respondents to treat the petitioner eligible for the post of Teacher Gr.-III,

Level-II (Hindi) and provide appointment on the said post with consequential benefits from the date other candidates were provided appointment. The

petitioner has to her credit B.A., M.A. and B.Ed. B.A. examination was passed by her from Kurkshetra University (Haryana) in the year 2003, M.A.

examination from the University of Bikaner in the year 2005, the petitioner also passed B.Ed. Examination in the year 2009 from Maharaja Ganga

Singh University, Bikaner.

During her B.A. examination the petitioner had subject English, Hindi compulsory, Political Science & Economics and the petitioner studied Hindi as

compulsory subject for all the three years and thereafter did her M.A. in Hindi. In the advertisement dated 31.07.2018 issued by the respondents, the

eligibility requirement, inter alia, provided as under:-

“B fgUnh ds v/;kid ds fy;s] vH;FkhZ dks oSdfYid fo""k; ds :i esa fgUnh fo""k; ds lkFk Lukrd ;k lerqY; ijh{kk mRrh.kZ fd;k gqvk gksuk pkfg, vkSj

vkosfnr fo""k; lfgr jhV@vkjVsV 60 izfr’kr vadksa ds lkFk mRrh.kZ fd;k gqvk gksuk pkfg,Aâ€​

The petitioner filled her application and based on her merit, her name appeared in the select list dated 03.09.2018. The petitioner appeared for

counselling, wherein, in view of the fact that petitioner had not studied Hindi as optional subject at Graduation Level, her candidature was rejected

holding the petitioner as ineligible.

It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the issue raised in the present writ petition is squarely covered by judgment of this Court in

Deepak Bariya v. R.P.S.C. & Ors. : 2018 (1) WLN 308 (Raj.), which was upheld by the Division Bench in State of Rajasthan & Anr. v. Deepak

Bariya & Ors. : D.B.S.A.W. No. 598/2018, decided on 04.04.2018 and judgment in Komal Purohit v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. : S.B.C.W.P. No.

13707/20178, decided on 12.10.2018.

Further submissions have been made that the action of the respondents in cancelling the candidature of the petitioner cannot be justified on the ground

as indicated by them. Learned counsel for the respondents submitted that as admittedly the petitioner did not have subject Hindi as optional at

Graduation level, she does not fulfill the eligibility conditions and, even if, the petitioner has done her Post Graduation in Hindi, the same does not fulfill

the requirements of the eligibility as contained in the Rules and, therefore, rejection of the petitioner’s candidature was justified.

I have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and have perused the material available on record. This Court in the case

of Komal Purohit (supra) after considering the Single Bench and Division Bench judgment in the case of Deepak Bariya (supra) as well as judgment

of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Jyoti K.K. & Ors. v. Kerala Public Service Commission & Ors. : (2010) 15 SCC 596, inter alia, laid

down as under:-

“A perusal of the above Division Bench judgment would reveal that the Court noticed the issue about ineligibility of the candidates, who opt for a

subject as a compulsory subject in graduation course and the requirement is of the subject as an optional subject, came to a categorical conclusion that

the candidate having opted for English as a compulsory subject in the graduation course, the object of the Rules is satisfied. Once the Division Bench

based on its interpretation of the identical Rule/requirement, came to the conclusion that a candidate having opted for English as a compulsory subject

in the graduation course satisfied the object of the Rules, the determination made by the respondents holding the petitioners as ineligible cannot be

sustained.

So far as the judgment in the case of Saroj (supra) is concerned, though the same apparently was not cited before the Division Bench, in view of the

Division Bench judgment in the case of Deepak Bariya (supra), the judgment in the case of Saroj (supra) has lost its efficacy and, therefore, the

determination made by the committee relying on the judgment in the case of Saroj (supra) in ignorance of the Division Bench judgment in the case of

Deepak Bariya (supra), cannot be sustained.

Consequently, the action of the respondents in insisting for English as optional subject at the graduation level and holding the candidates like the

petitioners, who have studied English as compulsory subject at the graduation level, cannot be sustained and the same is liable to be set aside. So far

as the case of the petitioners, who have done their post graduation in English is concerned, their case stands on a still better footing. Besides the

determination made hereinbefore, the status of those petitioners, in view of the series of judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Jyoti

K.K. (supra), Chandrakala Trivedi v. State of Raj. & Ors.: (2012) 3 SCC 129 and Parvaiz Ahmad Parry v. State of Jammu & Kashmir & Ors.:

(2015) 17 SCC 709, wherein it has been laid down that once the candidate had passed higher qualification, he has to be considered as having the

prescribed qualification for the post, the petitioners with higher qualification of M.A. in English can’t be held ineligible.â€​

The judgment in the case of Komal Purohit (supra) dealt with cases of candidates, who had subject English as compulsory subject at the Graduation

Level and the requirement under the Rules was that of subject English as optional at the Graduation level and in the present case the matter pertains

to subject Hindi. However, the principles as laid down in the case of Komal Purohit (supra) would apply with all force to the present case as well.

Consequently, the action of the respondents in cancelling the candidature of the petitioner on account of alleged ineligibility cannot be sustained.

In view of the above discussion, the writ petition filed by the petitioner is allowed. The respondents are directed to treat the petitioner, who has done

her Graduation with subject Hindi as compulsory subject, as eligible for Teacher Gr.-III, Level-II for subject Hindi and deal with her candidature

pursuant to the advertisement dated 31.07.2018 appropriately and as she stands in merit, grant her appointment in accordance with her merit. Needful

may be done by the respondents within a period of three weeks.