The High Court dismissed a writ petition challenging the amendment of eligibility criteria for the post of Lab Technician, requiring Senior Secondary with Science, citing identical previous rulings.
Writ petition dismissed; stay application rejected; no costs awarded.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN BENCH AT JAIPUR
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 6717/2020
Krishna Gopal Sharma S/o Radhey Shyam Sharma, Aged About 47 Years, R/o Village Kheriya Brahman, Post Jharkai, Tehsil Nadbai, District Bharatpur, Rajasthan - 321642.
----Petitioner
Versus
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Vigyan Shah For Respondent(s) : Mr. Harshal Tholia on behalf of Dr. V.B. Sharma, AAG Mr. Bharat Saini AGC
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. AKIL KURESHI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE UMA SHANKER VYAS
Order
16/12/2021
The petitioner has challenged the vires of the amendment in the recruitment rules made vide notification dated 30/08/2013. The petitioner holds the qualifications of Secondary pass and Diploma in Medical Lab Technology. By the impugned notification the State Government amended the recruitment rules for the post of Lab Technician. Prior to amendment the eligibility criteria prescribed by the statutory recruitment rules for the post in question was Secondary or its equivalent of 9 months training certificate from institute recognised by the government.
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Substituting those requirements by amending the Rajasthan Medical and Health Subordinate Service Rules, 1965, the State Government has now made the following eligibility criteria compulsory:-
Senior Secondary in Science with either Biology or Mathematics or its equivalent with Diploma in Medical Lab Technician from an institute recognised by the State Government/Central Government/Rajasthan Para Medical Council.
The petitioner’s main challenge is that the previous rules did not insist on a candidate possessing Secondary School Certificate with Biology or Mathematics as compulsory subjects.
It is not necessary to go into the challenge in detail since two division benches on earlier occasions have already rejected identical challenges made before this court. Our attention was drawn by the learned Government Advocate to a judgment of division bench dated 29/04/2013 in Civil Writ Petition No.6376/2013 in case of Kishan Kumar Swarnkar Vs. The State of Rajasthan and another in which challenge to the same amendment came to be rejected in following terms:-
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prescribing a higher academic qualification or relatively a more stringent condition of eligibility for a post to be filled up by direct recruitment in public service, unless those are wholly unwarranted and unrelated to the same.
To reiterate, in the facts of the present case, having regard to the post involved i.e. Laboratory Technician, the upgraded academic qualification can, by no means, be discarded as irrelevant or impertinent. In exercise of the power of judicial review, therefore, no interference with the amendments in the conditions of eligibility for the post of Laboratory Technician to be filled up by direct recruitment is called for. The upgradation having been made in the exigencies of service, the same is unassailable.
The challenge lacks in merit and is dismissed. No costs. Stay application also stands rejected. ”
In case of Hukam Singh and others Vs. State of Rajasthan and others (DBCWP No.6837/2013) division bench rendered a judgment on 27/05/2013. In the said case, the persons interested in direct recruitment to the post in question had challenged the amendment in the rules as well as questioned the State Government in following old eligibility criteria for promotion. This petition was also dismissed in the following terms:-
“Upon hearing the learned counsel for the petitioners and on a consideration of the pleaded facts and the documents on record, we are not inclined to sustain these contentions.
The petitioners are seeking appointment to the post of Laboratory Technician as a direct recruit. It is within the discretion and domain of the State respondents to prescribe the norms of eligibility adjudged to be best suited for a post and this Court, in exercise of the power of judicial review, would not interfere, unless such prescription is patently illegal and unconstitutional. Alteration in the existing criteria of eligibility rendering some ineligible thereby, would not ipso facto, make the modification invalid. That the qualifications for the post of Laboratory Technician prescribed by the 2013 Rules are either irrelevant or have no correlation whatsoever with the nature and quality of the services relatable thereto, is not discernible on the face of the records. As the qualifications mandated for the in-service candidates would reveal, the earlier norms of eligibility, in the alternative, have been retained for them. As the in-service
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candidates have been rendering their services since before the amendment, this initiative on the part of the respondents stands to logic. The petitioners, as contenders for direct recruitment, cannot claim parity or equivalence with the in-service candidate in this regard. The plea of discrimination between the direct recruits and promotees before the induction of the former in service, is wholly misplaced.
The contention that the case of the petitioners ought to be considered, even if they are not eligible in terms of 2013 Rules for direct recruitment only because the vacancies exist, also does not commend for acceptance. It would be open for the petitioners to submit an appropriate representation before the concerned respondent authority seeking such appropriate relief(s).
In all, we see no merit in the challenge. The petition is devoid of substance and is dismissed. The stay application also stands rejected.”
In the result this petition is also dismissed.
(UMA SHANKER VYAS),J
(AKIL KURESHI),CJ
Anil Kumar Goyal /BMG/12
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the State Government is justified in amending eligibility criteria from Secondary to Senior Secondary Science for the post of Lab Technician.
Whether such an upgrade in academic qualification is wholly unwarranted or unrelated to the nature of the service.
Whether direct recruits can claim parity with in-service candidates regarding upgraded eligibility norms.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Kishan Kumar Swarnkar Vs. The State of RajasthanFollowed¶20
Civil Writ Petition No.6376/2013 in case of Kishan Kumar Swarnkar Vs. The State of Rajasthan
Hukam Singh and others Vs. State of RajasthanFollowed¶26
DBCWP No.6837/2013 In case of Hukam Singh and others Vs. State of Rajasthan
Krishna Gopal Sharma
Principal Secretary, Department Of Personnel, Govt. Of Rajasthan
Secretary, Rajasthan Staff Selection Board
Secretary, Medical And Health Department, Govt. Secretariat
Akil Kureshi
Uma Shanker Vyas
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
