State Of U.P.& Anr vs Santosh Kumar Mishra & Anr

2. In order to appreciate this unusual situation, it is necessary to relate some of the relevant facts of these cases.

7. Questioning the said discriminatory and arbitrary treatment, the Respondents herein moved several writ petitions before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court for quashing the above- mentioned advertisement dated 12th November, 2007 and for a writ in the nature of Mandamus to command the Petitioners herein to make recruitment to the vacant posts of Pharmacists strictly in accordance with Rules 14 and 15 of the 1980 Rules, by specifying the vacancies year-wise, and, thereafter, appointing the writ Petitioners to the post of Pharmacists after providing for age relaxation. A further prayer was made in one of the writ petitions (Writ Petition No.7771 (SS) of 2007) to declare Rule 5(2)(iv)(b) of the amended Rules as ultra vires. After a detailed consideration of the rules and the existing procedures, the amended Rules were held to be intra vires. Considering the same, the Petitioners herein were competent to issue the advertisement 7 and to constitute a Selection Committee in terms of Rule 6 of the 2002 Rules and the First Amendment Rules 2003. It was, however, also indicated that until and unless Clause (a) of Sub-Rule (3) of Rule 5 of the 2003 Rules was amended, selection could not be undertaken by computing the marks as per the procedure prescribed therein and selection had to take place as per the provisions of Rule 15(2) of the 1980 Rules on the basis of the marks obtained in the Pharmacy Diploma Examination.

10. On the basis of its aforesaid observations, the Division Bench disposed of the several appeals with a direction that the case of the Appellants therein would be considered in accordance with pre-existing practice by considering their appointment on the basis of their merit taking their objects into 9 consideration as was being done earlier, but this process would be available only for said appellants. They would be accommodated if they were otherwise found eligible and the remaining vacancies would be filled in by following Rule 15(2) strictly as directed by the Single Judge. A direction was also given to the respondents in the said appeals to give age relaxation to the said appellants as per the Rules, if they had crossed the age limit, for the reason that right from the year 1998 no selection had been made and in certain cases, age relaxation had already been given. A further direction was given to complete the selection process within three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the order.

16. Several Special Appeals were filed by the writ Petitioners before the High Court which were disposed of by a common judgment dated 4th May, 2009, with a direction that the age of the Respondents be relaxed as per rule, if they had 16 crossed the age limit for the reason that right from the year 1998, no selection had been made and in certain cases, age relaxation had been granted.

34. We, therefore, are of the view that in the facts of this case no interference is called for with the decision of the Division Bench of the High Court impugned in these SLPs. The 12 Special Leave Petitions filed by the State of U.P., being S.L.P. Nos. 20558, 20769, 20774, 20785, 20901, 20908, 22655, 22678, 22732, 22749, 22851, 22955 of 2009, along with S.L.P.(C) Nos. 25647 and 25649 of 2009, filed by Vaibhav Kumar Singh and Ors. and Brijesh Kumar Sharma and others, whose cases are similar to that of the State of U.P., are dismissed, but 35 without any order as to costs. Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 22114 of 2009 and 32977 of 2009 filed by Ajay Singh and others and Shravan Kumar Pandey and others, stand allowed. The petitioners therein shall be entitled to the same benefits as those Diploma holders governed by the 1980 Rules, having obtained their Diplomas in Pharmacy prior to 1998. There will be no order as to costs in these S.L.Ps also.