Vireshwar Singh & Ors vs Municipal Corporation Of Delhi & Ors

2. The appellants are General Duty Medical Officers (GDMO) Grade-II who were appointed on ad hoc basis between 1986 and 1989. They are aggrieved by the denial of their claim to regularization with effect from the dates of their initial appointments. Regularization granted from the date of the recommendations of the Union Public Service commission (for short ‘UPSC’), namely, 24.07.1998 as approved by the High Court of Delhi by means of the impugned order dated 05.07.2011 has been called into question in the present appeal.

3. The relevant facts are as follows.

The post of GDMO Grade-II is a Group ‘A’ post governed by the Delhi Municipal Corporation Health Service Recruitment Regulations, 1982 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Regulations’). Under the said Regulations appointment in the post of GDMO Grade-II is required to be made through the UPSC. Between 1982 and 1986 (for convenience may be referred to as the Phase-I) 82 GDMOs were appointed on ad hoc basis for an initial term of six months which was subsequently extended from time to time. In what may be again conveniently referred to as the Phase-II, between 1986-1989, another 69 number of GDMOs were appointed on ad hoc basis on terms similar to the appointments made in Phase-I. Both sets of appointments were not through the UPSC but were made on the basis of a selection held by a Specially Constituted Selection Committee.

11. Writ Petition (C) No. 4619/2007 was thereafter transferred to the Central Administrative Tribunal and numbered as T.A. No. 398/2009. By order dated 09.12.2010 the learned Tribunal decided the aforesaid case (T.A. No. 398/2009) alongwith a connected matter holding that the Resolution dated 17.01.2000 with regard to regularization of GDMOs appointed in both phases from the dates of their initial appointments was contrary to the decision of this Court in Dr. Anuradha Bodi (supra). Accordingly, while the Resolution dated 17.01.2000 was quashed, the subsequent Order of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi dated 15.06.2007 was upheld. The aforesaid order has been confirmed by the Division Bench of the High Court by means of the impugned order dated 05.07.2011. It is the said order dated 05.07.2011 as well as the order dated 05.09.2011 refusing to review the order dated 05.07.2011 that have been challenged in the present appeals.

10. The Letter Patent Appeals (LPA Nos. 708/2001 and 138/2003) filed by the regularly appointed GDMOs against the order dated 14.05.1998 passed in Writ Petition (C) No. 1550/1996 were disposed of by the Division Bench of the High Court on 05.02.2008 by holding that the challenge made in the appeals stood answered by the subsequent order of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi dated 15.06.2007. The Division Bench also took note of the fact that the said order dated 15.06.2007 was under challenge in Writ Petition (C) No. 4619/2007 and directed that the views expressed in the order dated 14.05.1998 in Writ Petition (C) No. 1550/1996 would have no relevance or bearing while deciding Writ Petition (C) No. 4619/2007.

20. The constitution bench having dealt with Narender Chadha in this manner, to indicate the above principle, that decision cannot be construed to apply to cases where the initial appointment was not according to rules.”

19. All the aforesaid discussion would lead us to the conclusion that any departure from the views expressed and conclusions reached in Dr. Anuradha Bodi (supra) will not be necessary or justified. Accordingly, we do not find any merit or substance in the appeals under consideration. They are, therefore, dismissed but without any order as to costs.