Court No. - 34
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 483 of 2004 Petitioner :- Smt. Vinit Varshnnay Respondent :- The State Of U.P. Thru Principal Secy. Lkw. And Ors.
Counsel for Petitioner :- Alok Sharma,Rajendra Rai Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Yashwant Varma,J.
Order on Civil Misc. Restoration Application No. 03 of 2018:
Cause shown in the Affidavit filed in support of the Restoration Application is found to be sufficient. Accordingly, the order dated 21 February 2018 dismissing the petition is hereby recalled. The restoration application is consequently allowed. The petition stands restored to its original number.
Order on Petition:
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Birendra Pratap Singh, learned Standing Counsel for the State respondents.
The petitioner has challenged the order of 11 December 2003 pursuant to which her promotion to the position of Lecturer has come to be cancelled with the respondents holding that she did not possess the minimum and essential qualifications prescribed. The facts on which there is no dispute and which flow from the record of these proceedings would indicate that the petitioner was initially appointed as an Assistant Teacher in the L.T. Grade on 19 September 1990. Pursuant to the aforesaid order, she is stated to have joined the institution in question on 01 October 1990. In a promotional exercise which was initiated by the respondents for appointments of Lecturers, she came to be selected and appointed on that post on 07 July 2003. She continued to work in that position till the impugned order came to be passed.
When the writ petition was initially entertained, the Court by an order dated 09 January 2004 stayed the operation of the impugned order. That order has continued till this date. The Court firstly takes note of the provisions made in Rule 5 of the Uttar Pradesh Special Subordinate Educational (Lecturer's Cadre) Service Rules, 1992 and which admittedly would govern the issue of appointment of Lecturers by way of promotion. The relevant part of Rule 5 is extracted hereinunder:
"5. Source of Recruitment:- Recruitment to the various categories of posts in the service shall be made from the following sources:
Lecturer - Men's Branch ...................................
...................................
Lecturer - Women's Branch (1) Fifty percent by Direct recruitment through the Commission (ii) Fifty percent by promotion from amongst substantively appointed Subordinate Education Service L.T. Grade Teachers (Women's Branch) who has completed five year's service, as such, on the first day of the year of recruitment and who possess the requisite qualification prescribed for the post under Rule 8:
Provided that if suitable eligible candidates are not available for appointment by promotion, the posts may filled in by direct recruitment."
The essential qualification which are prescribed for a Lecturer admittedly is a Post Graduate degree in the respective subject along with a B.Ed. degree. The petitioner admittedly holds a M.A. degree in Psychology and has also obtained the B.Ed. degree from the Agra University in 1987. The aforesaid recital of facts would thus establish that the view taken and expressed in the impugned order to the effect that the petitioner did not possess the essential qualifications would not sustain.
In the counter affidavit which has thereafter been filed, the respondents have proceeded to assert an objection that the petitioner had not completed five years of substantive service at the time of her promotion. Even that objection has not been made good with the learned Standing Counsel fairly conceding that the petitioner had been appointed in 1990 as an Assistant Teacher in the L.T. Grade and at the time when the promotional exercise was initiated in 2003, she had in fact completed five years of substantive service. It is also not the case of the respondents that the petitioner did not fulfill the eligibility criteria as prescribed on the first day of the recruitment year in question.
Accordingly, and in view of the above, the writ petition is allowed. The impugned order dated 11 December 2003 is hereby quashed and set aside.
Order Date :- 29.9.2021 Arun K. Singh