IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA. CWP No. 5272 of 2011. Decided on: 27.7.2011. __________________________________________________________ Ruby Sharma & others … Petitioners. Versus Principal Secretary (Elementary Education) and others. … Respondents. ________________________________________________________ Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kurian Joseph, Chief Justice. Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.K. Sharma, Judge. For the petitioners : Ms. Suman Thakur, Advocate. For the respondents : Mr. Ankush Dass Sood, Addl. A.G. with Mr. J.K. Verma, Dy. A.G. for respondents. ___________________________________________________________ Justice Kurian Joseph, C.J. (Oral). The petition is filed with the following prayers: (i) To fill up the posts of Language Teacher with equal preference as (50% each) per old and new R & P Rules. (ii) That the Respondent No. 3 may kindly be directed to call for the interview the candidates with Language Teacher (L.T.) eligible upto 2010. 2. Qualification for appointment to the post of Language Teacher as per amendment of 2010 is B.A. with Hindi. However, the stand of the department is that those vacancies which arose prior to the amendment will be filled up as per the un-amended rules with opportunity for those candidates to acquire the prescribed qualification within the stipulated time. The petitioners are qualified as per the un-amended rules. They apprehend that they will not be called for their batch-wise recruitment. There is no dispute that 50% of the vacancies are to be filled up by batch-wise recruitment. In respect of those 50% of the vacancies, the candidates who are qualified as per the un-amended rules are to be considered in respect of the vacancies which arose prior to the amendment. The petitioners are apprehending that the people who are qualified with B.A. Hindi will be considered in respect of the 2 batch-wise recruitment and the people like the petitioners, who are qualified as per the un-amended rules, will not be considered at all. We do not find any basis for such apprehension. As already stated above, 50% of the vacancies are to be filled up by batch-wise recruitment. Among the 50% of the vacancies, those vacancies which arose prior to the amendment of the rules, are to be filled up by those persons who are qualified by the un-amended rules only. In that process, candidates will have to wait for their turn. 3. Needless also to say that in case sufficient number of candidates are not available as per the un-amended rules, in view of the relaxation said to have been given by the government, the petitioners in their turn will also be considered. 4. The writ petition is disposed of, so also the pending application (s), if any. Copy dasti. (Justice Kurian Joseph) Chief Justice. (Justice V.K. Sharma) July 27, 2011. Judge. (cr/virender)