Vivek vs State Of H.P. & Ors

Sabina, J

Petitioner has filed the petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking following substantive reliefs:-

“i). That in view of th above-mentioned facts and circumstances, the present writ petition may kindly be allowed and appointment of respondent No.7 may kindly be quashed and set aside.

ii) That the state-respondent may kindly be direct to place respondent No.8 below the petitioner in the merit list.

iii) That the State-respondent may kindly be direct to consider the candidature of the petitioner for appointment as Multi Tasking Worker in Government Primary School-Samela, Tehsil and District Kangra, H.P. in the interest of justice.”

Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that now vide Addendum dated 25th August, 2022, Rule 19 has been added to the Policy and as per the said Rule, appeal can be filed before the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of the District within 15 days of the selection/appointment. In the present case, the result was declared on 24.06.2022. Hence, the petitioner would not be able to avail the benefit of newly added Rule-19. Learned counsel has further submitted that the petitioner will approach the Additional District Magistrate, Kangra at Dharamshala, by way of an appeal within 15 days from today and the same should not be rejected by the competent authority on the ground that it is time barred as the Rule 19 has been incorporated on 25th August, 2022.

Rule-19, provide vide Addendum dated 25th August, 2022, reads as under:-

“ADDENDUM

In partial modification of this Department’s Notification No.EDN-C-B(1)2/2019 dated16th July, 2020 (as updated upto 11th March, 2022) the Governor, Himachal Pradesh is pleased to add “Rule-19 Appellate Authority” in the Part Time Multi Task Workers Policy, 2020, as under:-

Appellate Authority:

The appeal in respect of complaints relating to PTMTW selection/appointment etc. should be made to the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of the District within 15 days of the selection/appointment. The appeal will be considered by the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) of the District and disposed off within 30 days from its receipt with suitable directions. If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome, then he/she may file an appeal with the Director of Higher/Elementary Education, as the case may be, within 15 days from the decision of the Additional District Magistrate (ADM). The appellate authority may dispose off the appeal within 60 days after hearing the appellant.

By Order

Devesh Kumar, IAS

Pr. Secretary (Education) to the

Government of Himachal Pradesh.”

Keeping in view the submissions made by learned counsel for the petitioner, we deem it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition by permitting the petitioner to approach Additional District Magistrate, Kangra at Dharamshala, by way of an appeal within 15 days from today and the said authority will dispose of the appeal in terms of Rule 19, provided vide Addendum dated 25th August, 2022.

It is clarified that the appeal filed by the petitioner would not be rejected on the ground of delay, but would be disposed of on merits.

Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of.