IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition No. 297 of 2011 (S/S) Smt. Seema ………..Petitioner. Versus State of Uttarakhand and others. ………Respondents. Present: Mr. Tumul K. Nailwal, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. N.P. Sah, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand/respondent nos. 1 to 3. Hon’ble Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.(Oral) Heard Mr. Tumul K. Nailwal, Advocate for the petitioner and Mr. N.P. Sah, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand. Under a Scheme started in the erstwhile State of Uttar Pradesh, somewhere in late 80s, which continued in the State of Uttarakhand, “Angan Bari Workers” are appointed in “Angan Bari Centres”, which are situated almost in all villages. It is a village level appointment made by the concerned Child Development Project Officer. The selection and appointment procedure of “Angan Bari Karyakatri”, “Sahayika Angan Bari Karyakatri” and “Mini Angan Bari Karyakatri” are presently governed by various Government Orders but primarily by Government Orders dated 24th February, 2009, 3rd September, 2009 and 31st May, 2010. The main scheme today is given in a Government Order issued by the Government of Uttarakhand on 24th February, 2009. These are all admitted facts. As per the said Government Orders, reference whereof has already been given above, a selection 2 committee at Block Level is first constituted. A procedure is prescribed for constituting this Selection Committee. Thereafter procedure is also prescribed how the various vacancies of “Angan Bari Workers” will be advertised for all the “Angan Bari Centres” and how the selection will be made by the Selection Committee and what will be the eligibility as well as the priorities given to a candidate in this selection. It will be needless to elaborate on this aspect at the present juncture. As per the procedure prescribed in the Government Order dated 24th February, 2009, the Selection Committee shall publish a “tentative select list”, to be notified at various places including the Block Level Offices, so that if anybody wants to raise objections on these selections, he or she would be free to make such objections. The cases where no objections are made, the tentative selection list becomes final and the Child Development Project Officer issues appointment letter to such a candidate. In cases where objections are received, the matter is referred to the Appellate Authority, which is constituted under the Government Order dated 24th February, 2009. The body of the Appellate Authority constituted is as follows: “1. Chief Development Officer- Chairman 2. A person nominated by the District Magistrate, who must be at least Class-II Officer, and, 3. District Programme Officer, who will be the member Secretary of this appellate body. The Appellate Authority after considering the objections passes appropriate order therein. The Appellate Authority has to take a decision on this matter within 15 days as per the Government Order dated 24.2.2009. 3 According to the petitioner, she had applied for “Angan Bari Worker” (Angan Bari Karyakatri) for Angan Bari Centre-Ward No. 7, Jaspur, District Udham Singh Nagar. Although her name figured in the “tentative select list”, she was not given appointment. According to the petitioner, a complaint was in fact moved against the petitioner and although the report subsequent to the complaint was in favour of her, yet she was not given appointment. The matter regarding the appointment / selection of “Angan Bari Worker” at Angan Bari Cenntres are governed by various Government Orders, at present primarily by Government Order dated 24th February, 2009. As per this order, in case a candidate’s name appears in a “tentative select list”, but she is not finally selected, then the matter is referred by the Selection Committee to the Appellate Authority (reference of which has already been made above). Since, this remedy has not been exhausted by the petitioner, therefore, this Court is disposing of this writ petition with the following order: The matter is sent to the Appellate Authority constituted under Government Order dated 24th February, 2009. The said Appellate Authority shall look into the matter of selection as well as the complaint made against the petitioner and pass an appropriate order after hearing the petitioner as well as any other candidate, who has been selected or appointed in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible, but in no condition later than eight weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is produced before it. It is expected that the Appellate Authority will act with due fairness in accordance with the principles of natural justice and fair. 4 It must be clarified that though an appointment of an “Angan Bari Worker” is only under a Government Scheme yet for those “Angan Bari workers” who are so appointed, it carries a great meaning as the candidates for this work belong to the deprived or rather financially insecure stratum of our society who reside in a village. Even amongst them, in most cases, they are widows, divorced women, etc. Subject to just objections, these women have a legitimate expectation to be appointed as an “Angan Bari Worker” once their names figure in the tentative select list. It is also true that if merely one is selected one does not get any indefeasible right for appointment, yet it is equally true that if the appointment is denied, plausible reasons must exist for such a denial! With the above observations, the writ petition is disposed of. It is made clear that if meanwhile any other person has been selected and appointed as “Angan Bari Worker” for that centre then before passing any orders she would also be heard before any orders are passed. No order as to costs. (Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.) 5.4.2011 Kuldeep