Case: SATYA DEV BHAGAUR &amp; ORS Vs. THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND ORS

6. For the sake of convenience, the facts in civil appeal arising out of SLP (C) No 24434 of 2019 are referred to for consideration.The State of Rajasthan has framed rules known as Rajasthan Ayurvedic, Unani, Homeopathy and Naturopathy Services (Amendment) Rules, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the said Rules). Rule 19 of the said Rules reads thus :19. Scrutiny of applications.- The Appointing Authority shall scrutinize the applications received by it and require as many candidates qualified for appointment under these rule as seem to it desirable for interview:Provided that in case of appointment to the post of Nurse Compounder Junior Grade, the merit shall be prepared by the Appointing Authority on the basis of marks obtained in such qualifying examination specified in the Schedule appended to the rules and bonus marks as may be specified by State Government having regard to the length of experience on similar work under the Government, Chief Minister BPL Jeevan Raksha Kosh, National Rural Health Mission, as the case may be.Provided further that the decision of the Appointing Authority, as to the eligibility or otherwise of a candidate, shall be final.7. The respondent--State of Rajasthan has issued a notification on 30.05.2018, thereby providing that such of the candidate who had worked under the Government, Chief Minister BPL Life Saving Fund, NRHM Medicare Relief Society, AIDS Control Society, National TB Control Program, Jhalawar Hospital and Medical College Society, Samekit Rog Nirgrani Pariyojna or State Institute of Health Family Welfare (SIHFW), would be entitled to bonus marks as per the experience attained. For 1 year of experience, the bonus marks will be 10, for 2 years of experience the bonus marks will be 20 and for 3 years of experience it will be 30. The advertisement also provided that only such of the candidates who were having experience certificate from the competent authority as mentioned in the said advertisement would be entitled to the bonus marks.8. The appellants herein, who have the experience of working under the NRHM scheme on contract basis in different States, approached the High Court vide various writ petitions seeking a direction to the respondent--State of Rajasthan to accept the experience certificate of the petitioners which was issued by the NRHM authorities of different States, so as to qualify them for getting the bonus marks. The Single Judge of the High Court vide order dated 28.08.2018, allowed the said writ petitions and directed the State of Rajasthan to grant bonus marks to the appellants who had worked under the NHM/NRHM schemes in different states.9. Being aggrieved by the order passed by the Single Judge, the State of Rajasthan approached the Division Bench of the High Court. The Division Bench by the impugned order dated 13.08.2018, allowed the appeal by holding that the intention of the State of Rajasthan was to confine the benefit of award of bonus marks to those employed in the schemes within the State of Rajasthan and not in other States. Being aggrieved thereby, the appellants are before this Court.

Reasoning: 15. From the material placed on record, it appears that the policy of the State of Rajasthan is that while selecting Nurse Compounder Junior Grade, the bonus marks are to be given to such employees who have done similar work under the State Government and under the various schemes. The question thus, would be whether such bonus marks would also be available to the contractual employees working under the NHM/NRHM schemes in other States.16. It is trite that the Courts would be slow in interfering in the policy matters, unless the policy is found to be palpably discriminatory and arbitrary. This court would not interfere with the policy decision when a State is in a position to point out that there is intelligible differentia in application of policy and that such intelligible differentia has a nexus with the object sought to be achieved.17. This Court in the case of Krishnan Kakkanth vs. Government of Kerala and others (1997) 9 SCC 495  has observed thus:36. To ascertain unreasonableness and arbitrariness in the context of Article 14 of the Constitution, it is not necessary to enter upon any exercise for finding out the wisdom in the policy decision of the State Government. It is immaterial whether a better or more comprehensive policy decision could have been taken. It is equally immaterial if it can be demonstrated that the policy decision is unwise and is likely to defeat the purpose for which such decision has been taken. Unless the policy decision is demonstrably capricious or arbitrary and not informed by any reason whatsoever or it suffers from the vice of discrimination or infringes any statute or provisions of the Constitution, the policy decision cannot be struck down. It should be borne in mind that except for the limited purpose of testing a public policy in the context of illegality and unconstitutionality, courts should avoid embarking on uncharted ocean of public policy.19. When Rule 19 is read with sub-clause (ii) of Clause 7 of the advertisement, the policy and object of the State of Rajasthan would be clear. Sub-clause (ii) of Clause 7 of the advertisement enlists the authorities who are competent to issue experience certificate for contractual employees. The list would reveal that most of the competent authorities are the authorities who are heads of the institution like Government Medical College, Government Dental College, Director, Public Health, All Chief Medical and Health Officer of the State, All Primary Medical Officers, etc. Insofar as the NHM/AIDS is concerned, the competent authority is mentioned as Project Director, NHM/AIDS. We find that reading Project Director, NHM/AIDS to be a Project Director of NHM/NRHM anywhere in the country would be reading the said words without context. When sub-clause (ii) of Clause (7) of the advertisement mentions all other authorities who are the heads of the various establishments in the State of Rajasthan, the term Project Director, NHM will have to be construed as Project Director, NHM within the State of Rajasthan.20. Though the impugned order does not consider this aspect in detail, it will be apposite to refer to the observation made by the Division Bench of the High Court of Rajasthan in the case of Jagdish Prasad and Others vs. State of Rajasthan and Ors. (D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 12942/2015, dated 09.02.2016):From perusal of the record made available, the Government of Rajasthan has conducted several training programmes for the persons working even on contractual basis and under different schemes controlled by the Government of Rajasthan and Medi Care Relief Society. The training programmes mainly pertain to the peculiar working pattern in the rural areas of the State of Rajasthan including tribal and arid zones. It is also pertinent to note that the participation in such trainings is mandatory and non-joining of the same may result into non--renewal of service contract. The persons working with Government of Rajasthan and Medi Care Relief Society with experience similar to the work of Nurse Grade-II are posted at different hospitals and other institutions affiliated with the health projects and as such these persons are having a special knowledge of working in the State. A person having such knowledge certainly forms a class different than the persons not having such experience of working in the State. It is also pertinent to note that the benefit extended is only a little weightage on basis of the length of service with experience of working in Rajasthan and not the eligibility. A person having qualification eligibility is entitled to face the process of recruitment irrespective of having any experience or not. The experience gained in other States cannot be compared with the working in the State of Rajasthan as every State is having its own problems and issues and the persons trained to meet such circumstances stand on different pedestal.21. It could thus clearly be seen that the Division Bench in the case of Jagdish Prasad (Supra) after considering the record, has come to the finding that the Government of Rajasthan has conducted several training programmes for the persons working with it on contractual basis, as well as under different schemes. The training programmes mainly pertain to the peculiar working pattern in the rural areas of the State of Rajasthan including tribal and arid zones. The Division Bench has further come to a finding that participation in such a training is mandatory and non-joining of the same would result in non--renewal of service contracts. It has been held that persons having special knowledge in working in the State of Rajasthan form a class different than the persons not having such experience of working in the State. It was found that the benefit extended by the State policy was only that of giving a little more weightage on the basis of experience and all the candidates were required to undergo the rigor of selection process. The Division Bench has clearly held that the experienced candidates in other States cannot be compared with the candidates working in the State of Rajasthan, as every State has its own problems and issues and the persons trained to meet such circumstances, stand on a different pedestal.22. We are in complete agreement with the aforesaid observations of the Division Bench. We find that the policy of the State of Rajasthan to restrict the benefit of bonus marks only to such employees who have worked under different organizations in the State of Rajasthan and to employees working under the NHM/NRHM schemes in the State of Rajasthan, cannot be said to be arbitrary.23. It is further to be noted that this Court in the case of Sachivalaya Dainik Vetan Bhogi Karamchari Union, Jaipur vs. State of Rajasthan and Others (2017) 11 SCC 421,  has upheld the policy of the State of Rajasthan, for giving weightage for the services rendered by the employees, where services were used by the State either temporarily or on ad hoc basis.