1 S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.6766/2008 Shankar Lal v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. Date of Order :: 15 th October, 2008 HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE GOVIND MATHUR Mr. Kamal Dave, for the petitioner. Mr. N.M.Lodha, Advocate General. .... The Rajasthan Panchayat Raj Prabodhak Service consisting of two cadres viz. Senior Prabodhak and Prabodhak is created by the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Prabodhak Service Rules, 2008 (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules of 2008”). The recruitment to the post of Senior Prabodhak is required to be made 100% by way of promotion among the Prabodhaks. By adopting the mode of direct recruitment, the appointments are required to be made on the post of Prabodhak and the eligibility to be considered for appointment as Prabodhak as per the Rules of 2008 is as follows:- “Senior Secondary School Certificate or intermediate or its equivalent, with Diploma or certificate in basic teachers training of 2 a duration of not less than two years of Diploma or certificate in elementary teachers training of a duration of not less than two years. OR Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed) OR Graduation with Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) or its equivalent. AND Must have at least 5 years continuous teaching experience without any break in any recognized educational institution/ educational project.” The petitioner, in pursuant to an advertisement dated 31.5.2008, submitted application in prescribed proforma to be considered for appointment as Prabodhak, however, his candidature is rejected on the count that he was not possessing requisite teaching experience. By submitting a notice for demand of justice through his counsel the petitioner asserted that he is having requisite experience and in alternative he also claimed for extending relaxation in the requirement of experience by exercising powers under Rule 40 of the Rules of 2008. As per the petitioner in pursuant to an advertisement dated 5.5.2002 he applied for appointment as Para Teacher in Gram Panchayat Galiawas Pachpadria, Panchayat Samiti, Rohat and he was placed at Serial No.1 in the select panel prepared by the selection committee for making appointment to the post 3 of Para Teacher. Despite being on higher pedestal, appointment was accorded to one Champalal, thus the petitioner approached this Court by way of filing a writ petition (SBCWP No.1951/2001) wherein on 19.6.2002 an ad interim order was passed directing the respondents to send the petitioner provisionally for training relating to the post of Para Teacher (Physical Education). The writ petition aforesaid came to be accepted on 27.11.2002 with a direction to the Panchayat Samiti, Rohat and Gram Panchayat Galiawas to employ the petitioner as Para Teacher. As a consequent to the directions given by this Court, appointment was given to the petitioner as Para Teacher under an order dated 21.6.2003 and the petitioner joined the duties as such on 1.7.2007. In the instant matter, the case of the petitioner is that if the respondents include the training period relating to the post of Para Teacher, he acquires the requisite experience, otherwise he lacks five years teaching experience just by five days and that deserves to be relaxed by exercising powers conferred upon the competent authority by Rule 40 of the Rules of 2008. It is asserted that the petitioner is entitled for getting relaxation in teaching experience on the count that he failed to join duties as Para Teacher due to an error of the Gram Panchayat Galiawas Pachpadria, thus, the shortage of teaching experience is for the reasons beyond his control. 4 On the other hand, as per the respondents the experience prescribed to be considered for appointment is of five years and if a person lacks actual experience, his candidature cannot be considered for appointment as Prabodhak. The petitioner being not having five years complete actual experience of teaching is not entitled to be considered for appointment as Prabodhak. As such there is no illegality in rejecting his candidature. Heard counsel for the parties. The facts involved in the case are not in dispute and the issue requires adjudication is that whether the period of training undertaken by the petitioner for being appointed as Para Teacher is required to be treated as part of teaching experience and also that whether any undue hardship is caused to the petitioner that may warrant relaxation in requirement of five years experience while considering candidature of the petitioner for appointment as Prabodhak. Under the Rules of 2008 the term “teaching experience” is defined as follows:- “2(k)”Teaching Experience” for the purpose of direct recruitment includes the experience 5 gained in supervisory capacity in any recognized educational institution or project.” The term “service” or “experience” is also defined under the Rules of 2008 in following terms:- “2(l)“Service” or “Experience” wherever prescribed in these rules as a condition for promotion from one Service to another or within the Service from one category to another or to senior posts, in the case of a person holding a lower post eligible for promotion to higher post shall include the period for which the person has continuously worked on such lower post after regular selection in accordance with rules promulgated; Note: Absence during service e.g. training, leave and deputation etc., which are treated as “duty” under the Rajasthan Service Rules, 1951 shall also be counted as service for computing experience or service required for promotion;” Suffice it to mention here that the interpretation of term “experience” under Rule 2(l) relates to promotion from one service to another or within the service from one category to another or to Senior Posts in the case a person is holding a lower post. For the purpose of promotion, the period of training is required to be taken into consideration as experience, however, the Rules are silent regarding 6 consideration of training as experience for direct recruitment. The term “teaching experience” as interpreted under Rule 2(k), though not refers that what shall be the teaching experience, but that is quite broad. It refers inclusion of experience gained in supervisory capacity in any recognised educational institution or project as teaching experience. Meaning thereby, the teaching experience includes the experience of teaching as well as the experience gained in supervisory capacity with a recognised institution. A person undertaking training for holding a teaching post after selection to a post concerned then that certainly stands on a better pedestal for considering “teaching experience” than the experience gained in supervisory capacity. The period spent for training is already treated as part of experience under the Rules of 2008, for the purpose of promotion and, therefore, in totality of the facts and legal position as stated above, I do not find any just reason to deny the post selection training relating to a teaching post as a “teaching experience”. The petitioner in view of whatever said above is certainly having a “teaching experience” of more than five years on inclusion of the training relating to post of Para Teacher. He is, thus, entitled to be considered for appointment as Prabodhak. The argument for getting relaxation with the experience too is having merit as the shortage of five 7 days experience is due to an error of a Panchayat Raj Institution and for that the respondents while making appointment as Prabodhak with a Panchayat Raj Institution must protect the petitioner from an undue hardship. If the respondents do not extend the relaxation in experience, then the petitioner for no fault on his part shall be deprived of from his valuable right to be considered for appointment as Prabodhak. Accordingly, this petition for writ is allowed. The rejection of the petitioner's candidature on the count of lacking experience is declared illegal. The respondents are directed to consider the candidature of the petitioner for appointment on the post of Prabodhak in District Jodhpur and appointment be accorded to him if he stands in merit and is otherwise eligible to hold the post of Prabodhak. Compliance of the directions given above is required to be made within a period of two months from today. ( GOVIND MATHUR ),J. kkm/ps.