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Judgment
Heard.
Learned counsel for the petitioner, learned counsel for respondent No.6, learned counsel for Panchayat and learned counsel for the State.
Respondent No.6 was appointed by the Gram Panchayat on the post of Panchayat Karmi, although he was lower in order of merit. The said appointment order was upheld in appeal, but set aside by the Collector in revision (wrongly described as a second appeal). The Collector''s order was challenged in the writ petition and the same was quashed.
It has been urged by learned counsel for the respondent No.6 that this circular/Govt. Order 13.08.2007, being subsequent in point of time will not apply. Assuming this argument to be correct, still the appointment had to be made on the basis of the government order/circular dated 27.01.2006, which admittedly applied to the case. A copy of this government order/circular has been annexed as Annexure R4.
This circular mentions that the applications received for the appointment from the candidates should be examined and listed according to "ojh;rk,oa Js"Brk. Considering the totality of that circular dated 27.01.2006, there is no doubt that the word "ojh;rk" as used therein does mean "seniority" because the appointments are not by promotion but are by direct recruitment. Therefore, the word "ojh;rk" as used in the circular concerned means "preference" because the earlier part of the said circular gives preference in the matter of appointment to SC/ST/OBC and ladies.
Admittedly, the respondent No.6 does not come in any of these preference categories. Therefore, being lower in order of merit and not being a preferential candidate and he should not have been granted the appointment in question.
If one wrong order i.e. order of appointment has been set aside by another wrong order of the Collector, normally the writ court should have refused to interfere in its writ jurisdiction, because such discretionary jurisdiction cannot be used to perpetrate an illegality.
On the aforesaid short ground, we set aside the order of the learned single judge, and order that the writ petition before the single Judge stands dismissed.