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Jharkhand HC Disposes of Writ Petition Filed to Fill up Vacant Seats Reserved for Govt. School Teachers

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A writ petition was filed to fill up the vacant seats which were kept reserved for Govt. School Teachers in terms of Rule 9(i) of Jharkhand Govt. High School Teacher and Teaching Staff Appointment and Service Condition Rules, 2015 which was disposed of by Hon’ble Mr Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi on 23rd November 2020. The High Court considered this issue, in the case of Birendra Kumar & Ors v. State of Jharkhand & Ors.

Facts of the Case

The Petitioners applied for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) for subject-wise and district wise vacancies following the advertisement published in 2016. The Petitioners appeared in both compulsory and mains examination. After successfully qualifying both the examinations, they were called for counselling/document verification vide notification on different dates which were published on the website of Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission.

After that, based on the marks obtained by each candidate in their specific subject concerned, a merit-list was prepared and appointment letters were to be made. It came to notice that the Petitioners belonged to non-scheduled and unreserved districts of Jharkhand. Thus, the Petitioners were not covered under the aforesaid notification.

Arguments

The Counsel for the Petitioners submitted that the said notification was challenged before the Full Bench of this Court in the case of Soni Kumari & Others Vs. State of Jharkhand & Others bearing W.P.(C) No. 1387 of 2017. She also submitted that the matter could be disposed of in the light of the judgment passed by the three-Judge Bench of this Court in the aforesaid case, perusing the Order dated 21.09.2020, particularly Para 66.

Furthermore, the Counsel submitted that as the Petitioners belonged to non-scheduled districts and there was no stay operation, given the observation made in Paragraph 66 of the Full Bench judgment, the writ petition could be disposed of.

Adv. Piprawall, the learned Counsel appearing for the respondent-JSSC, submitted that Notification No.2264, dated 29.08.2019 issued by School Education and Literacy Department, through which filling up of the posts for the subjects of Hindi, English, History/Civics, Geography, Maths/Physics, and Biology/Chemistry was already present. He further stated that because of Full Bench judgment in Soni Kumari” case, the matter could be disposed of, in the light of paragraph no.66 of the said judgment.

The Respondents’ Counsel added that the writ petition could be disposed of only to the effect that JSSC would examine as to whether the Petitioners fell under the zone of consideration or not. If they fell under the zone of consideration, appropriate orders shall be passed.

Court’s Decision

The Court disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the Petitioners to file fresh representation within three weeks from the date of the present order.

The Court stated that after the representation was presented before the authority, it was the onus of the authority to arrive at a decision, following the precedent in Soni Kumari & Others Vs. State of Jharkhand & Others. The authority was directed to arrive at their decision within eight weeks thereafter.

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