Archana Chouhan Pundir vs State Of M.P.& Ors

The appellant was appointed as Assistant Surgeon in District Hospital, Raisen on contract basis vide order dated 26.10.1999. The term of her contractual appointment was extended from time to time. After about four years, she filed Writ Petition No.2158 of 2004 for issue of a mandamus to respondent Nos.1 and 2 to regularise her service. The same was disposed of by the learned Single Judge vide order dated 21.4.2004, the relevant portion of which (as contained in Annexure P-1) is extracted below:

In the meanwhile, the appellant applied for admission to Post- Graduate course as an "in-service candidate". Her application was accepted by the concerned authorities and she was allowed to appear in the Entrance Examination, 2007. She secured 98.50 marks out of 200 but was not given admission because of non-award of marks in lieu of her 7 years' service.

Apprehending that she may not get admission in Post Graduate course, the appellant filed Writ Petition No.5157 of 2007 with the prayer that Rule 9.1 (a) and (b) of the 2007 Rules may be struck down and the respondents be directed to admit her against the quota of "in-service candidates". By an interim order dated 26.4.2007, the Division Bench of the High Court directed the respondents to allow the appellant to participate in the counselling as an "in- service candidate". In compliance of that order, the appellant was allowed to take part in counselling and she appears to have been admitted in the Post-Graduate course as an "in-service candidate". This inference is being drawn from the contents of last paragraph of the impugned order wherein it has been mentioned that the appellant has spent two years in her education as an "in-service candidate".

In our view, the date on which the order for regularisation was issued was purely fortuitous and the same could not be made basis for depriving the appellant of her legitimate right to get admission as an "in-service candidate". At the cost of repetition it needs to be emphasized that in terms of the order passed by the learned Single Judge in writ petition No. 2158 of 2004, the concerned authorities were required to consider the appellant's case for regularisation of service and pass appropriate order within three months, but the needful was done after a long time gap of almost three years. Even after framing of the 2005 Rules, the State Government took two years to complete the exercise for regularisation of the services of Medical Officers appointed on contract basis. If the State Government had issued order of regularisation before 5.3.2007 i.e. the last date fixed for receipt of application, the appellant would have been saved of the harassment, mental agony and financial loss suffered by her on account of unwarranted and forced litigation. In any case, no premium could be given to the respondents for their contumacious conduct of not complying with the High Court order and unexplained delay in issuing the order for regularization of the appellant's service.

We are also of the view that the Division Bench of the High Court committed serious error by dismissing the writ petition and denying relief to the appellant despite the fact that she had completed more than 7 years' service as on 30th April of the year of examination i.e., 2007.

In the result, the appeal is allowed. The impugned order is set aside, the writ petition filed by the appellant is allowed and it is declared that the decision of the respondents to treat the appellant ineligible for admission to Post Graduate course as an "in-service candidate" was illegal and violative of her Fundamental Right to Equality. If the concerned authorities have so far not declared result of the appellant's examination, then the needful shall be done within a period of four weeks' from the date of receipt/production of copy of this judgment. If, on the other hand, the result of the appellant has already been declared and she has been admitted to Post-Graduate course, then she shall be allowed to complete the course and take examination.