Dilip Kumar vs Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Others

Kailash Gambhir, J.

CM APPL. No.655/2015

By this application filed under Section 148 read with Section 151, CPC, the respondents seek enlargement of time to fill up the post of Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities in compliance with order dated 11.02.2013 passed by this Court.

We have heard Mr. Sushil Dutt Salwan, the learned Additional Standing Counsel for the Govt. of NCT of Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the ''GNCTD'').

Mr. Salwan, the learned ASC for the GNCTD submits that vide order dated 25.04.2012 this Court while disposing of the main Writ Petition directed the respondents to issue a fresh notification for appointment to the post of Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities within a period of two months from the date of the said order. The Court also directed that the post be filled up by direct recruitment. Consequent, upon the said direction given by this Court, steps were taken for inviting applications to fill up the post of Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities vide communication dated 26.06.2012 and in response to the said communication four applications were received, which also included the application filed by the present petitioner- Dilip Kumar. All these applications were placed before the Screening Committee and the Committee in its meeting held on 21.09.2012 observed that there are limited number of applications and wide publicity was not done through newspapers, so fresh publication through newspapers need to be given for transparency and better publicity and accordingly, the advertisement was published in the leading newspapers on 29.09.2012 and in response to the same, 16 more applications were received.

It is also the case of the respondents that in the meanwhile the petitioner filed a Contempt Petition before this Court and vide order dated 05.10.2012, the Court directed that no final decision will be taken vis-a- vis the re-advertised post and the Contempt Petition was directed to be listed on 01.02.2013. It is also the case of the respondents that the Contempt Petition was finally listed on 07.02.2013 and the Court discharged the contempt notice with the direction to the respondents to ensure fair selection. The learned counsel also submits that because of the delay caused due to the above facts the application for extension of time was moved and vide order dated 11.02.2013 this Court granted two months time for taking steps to fill up the said post. It is also the case of the respondents that a meeting of the Search Committee was convened on 20.03.2013 and then on 16.01.2014 when the Search Committee had considered the application of all the 18 applicants to the post of Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities including the petitioner only 8 out of 18 applicants were found eligible as per the rules. It is also the case of the respondents that one Dr. B. Ramaswamy''s name was recommended for appointment and he was appointed to the said post and to challenge his appointment, a complaint dated 13.02.2014 was received in the office of the then Minister Social Welfare, GNCTD alleging that the said officer had no experience of disability as he was in Delhi Government, Department of Women and Child Development as Member, Child Welfare Committee. The Committee while examining the complaint filed against the said officer, found that alongwith his application, Dr. B. Ramaswamy had furnished two experience certificates out of which one was for the period since 2003 onwards issued by Vellore District Physically Challenged Person Welfare Association and the other for a period w.e.f. March, 2010 onwards, issued by All India Differently Abled Persons Empowerment Trust and to ascertain the genuineness of these two experience certificates, the respondent- Department wrote two letters to the issuing institutions. Both the institutions confirmed that the experience certificates were issued from their institutions. Further to establish as to whether these institutions were registered under section 51-52 of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, the Department wrote letters to the Directorate of Social Welfare, Govt. of Tamil Nadu dated 02.07.14 and 19.08.14 but no reply was received from the Department of Social Welfare, Tamil Nadu. In this background the Lt. Governor, GNCTD took a decision to re-advertise the post as in such a situation the appointment of the said officer cannot be made.

In light of these facts, the respondents seek further extension of time on the ground that now the process will have to be commenced afresh and this would take further time. The learned counsel for the respondent apprised the Court that the petitioner has already filed a Contempt Petition which is pending before the learned Single Judge and the same is likely to be listed in the month of April, 2015.

Let the reasons which have been disclosed by the respondents in the present application may be canvassed before the Contempt Court and so far as the request for extension of time is concerned, the Court is not inclined to grant any further time as the period of six months from the date of initial order viz. 25.04.2012 came to an end on 25.10.2012 and the period of two months which was granted by this Court vide order dated 11.02.2013 has also expired. It is a matter of record that no further request was made by the respondents after the last request for extension of time was granted by the order dated 11.02.2013.

In the present application, we find that the respondents have not shown any progress after the Lt. Governor had taken a decision vide his Note dated 7th October, 2014 directing the department to re-advertise the post and permit the individuals who were under consideration to apply again and this includes the petitioner and therefore, we do not find any ground to grant any further extension of time in the matter.

At this stage counsel for the respondents submits Dr. B. Ramaswamy was appointed as Officer Superintendent.

There is no merit in the present application and the same is hereby dismissed.