Kashiram Dashrath Rane and Anr. vs the State of Maharashtra and Anr. — Bombay HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Kashiram Dashrath Rane and Anr. vs the State of Maharashtra and Anr. — Bombay HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Both Writ Petitions partly allowed: the impugned rejection orders dated 27th December, 2024 (X-1) and 10th February, 2025 (X) are quashed and set aside; the ten (WP 81/2025) and fourteen (WP 2577/2025) deficiencies/objections of the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Sindhudurg are to be treated as notice by the Management; all objections/deficiencies to be removed within 45 days and revised/reworked proposals tendered to Respondent No.3 immediately thereafter; Respondent No.3 to conduct a meticulous verification exercise and pass reasoned orders within a further period of 45 days; no opinion expressed on the merits of the proposals; costs not imposed in view of the apology and the submission that this is a first instance; the Addl. GP submitted that there will be no recurrence and that should such an order come to the Court's notice, it is free to impose heavy costs.

Issue for consideration

Whether the order dated 27th December, 2024 (taken on record as X-1) rejecting the pending proposal dated 21st November, 2022 seeking approval to the promotion of Petitioner No.1 (Gajanan Dwarkanath Nanche) to the post of Senior Clerk with effect from 1st April, 2019 — passed after two years and one month and after the filing of the Petition — should be quashed and set aside. +1 more

Court's answer

The communication tendered by the learned AGP (X-3, dated 1st March, 2024, regarding an interim order dated 6th September, 2021 in two other Writ Petitions before the Principal Seat) has nothing to do with the promotion of Petitioner No.1 in place of the permanent employee who passed away; the AGP had no explanation connecting it to this Petition.

Ratio / Principle

Writ Petition No.81 of 2025 is partly allowed and the impugned order dated 27th December, 2024 (X-1) is quashed and set aside.

Key takeaways

The ten deficiencies/objections raised by the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Sindhudurg shall be treated as a notice by Petitioner No.2 Management; all objections/deficiencies are to be removed within 45 days and the revised/reworked proposal tendered to Respondent No.3 immediately thereafter; Respondent No.3 is expected to conduct a meticulous verification exercise of the records/documents annexed to the proposal and pass a reasoned order within a further period of 45 days.ratio¶7
The Court makes it clear that it has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the proposal which would be preferred by the Management.obiter¶8

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Education service – Approval of staff promotion proposals – Rejection orders passed belatedly and without affording the Management an opportunity to cure deficiencies – Quashed; timelines fixed for fresh consideration. WP 81/2025: Permanent employee Shankar Ramchandra Chavan died on 19.03.2019 and Petitioner No.1 was promoted in his place on a permanent vacant post; the School's proposal dated 21.11.2022 seeking approval to his promotion as Senior Clerk w.e.f. 01.04.2019 was rejected only on 27.12.2024 — after two years and one month and after filing of the Petition; the State's reliance (X-3) on an interim order dated 06.09.2021 in two unrelated Writ Petitions before the Principal Seat was found to have nothing to do with this promotion; the rejection order was quashed and set aside; the ten deficiencies/objections of the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Sindhudurg to be treated as notice by Petitioner No.2 Management, to be removed within 45 days with a revised proposal to Respondent No.3, who is to verify the records and pass a reasoned order within a further 45 days; no opinion expressed on merits; costs waived in view of the apology and the Addl. GP's submission (on instructions from Mrs. Shimpi) that this is the first instance of such an order being set aside. WP 2577/2025: Kashiram Dashrath Rane, working as Peon, promoted as Junior Clerk in the place of Petitioner No.1; his proposal dated 17.08.2024 was rejected on 10.02.2025 (wrongly typed 10.02.2024) after 14 objections and without opportunity to the Management; for the same reasons the Petition was partly allowed and the order quashed, with the same curing timeline; the Addl. GP submitted there will be no recurrence, failing which the Court is free to impose heavy costs. Bench: Ravindra V. Ghuge & Ashwin D. Bhobe, JJ.; decided 24.02.2025.