Blog

Respondents to start the process of filling the post of Assistant Clerk in the school by way of promotion from the qualified Group IV employees is upheld by the Uttarakhand High Court in the case of Asha Ram Ghansela v. State of Uttarakhand through Justice Ravindra Maithani.

FACTS OF THE CASE

The petitioner who was offended by respondent’s advertising, for the purpose of filling one position of Assistant Clerk in the Intermediate College, filed a writ petition in the Court. He demanded that the advertisement be overturned and that the respondents take the petitioner into consideration for a promotion to the position. When the school was still a high school, the petitioner was hired as a Class IV employee. It was promoted to intermediate, and numerous posts received the appropriate approval. The petitioner’s situation was that the position of Assistant Clerk became vacant after the first Assistant Clerk was promoted to Head Clerk and was not promptly filled.

JUDGEMENT

The Court noted that the question centred on how the Regulations, which allowed for promotion to the position of Assistant Clerk, should be interpreted. The Court outlined how Sub-Regulation (2) of Regulation 2 of Chapter 3 provides, among other things, that working Group IV employees who are eligible, who have worked continuously for five years on a substantial post, and whose service record is good, shall be promoted in order to fill 50% of the total sanctioned posts in the clerical cadre. Additionally, it states that promotions must be given based on merit and must exclude those who are unfit.

The Court responded negatively, stating that the regulations did not stipulate that, in the case of a single post, if the position had already been filled by promotion, it might be filled again through direct hiring, etc. This is made plain in Regulation 2 of Chapter 3 of the Regulations. It stipulates that promotions from among eligible Group IV workers will fill 50% of the clerical cadre’s authorised positions. This is not the end of it. It is further clarified in the note attached to Sub-Regulation (2) of Regulation 2 that, while calculating 50%, less than half shall be disregarded, but half or more shall be treated as one.

While granting the petition, the Court determined that the advertisement needed to be revoked because the respondents failed to interpret the rules correctly because there was only one post in the current case. The Court instructed the respondents to start the process of filling the post of Assistant Clerk in the school by way of promotion from the qualified Group IV employees and in response to the second question, which asked whether the petitioner could be promoted to the post of Assistant Clerk, the Court held that there were other employees senior to the petitioner in the cadre from which the post of Assistant Clerk was to be filled by way of promotion.

Accordingly, the Court granted the writ petition for the advertising being overturned.

PRIME LEGAL is a full-service law firm that has won a National Award and has more than 20 years of experience in an array of sectors and practice areas. Prime legal fall into the category of Best law firm, best lawyer, best family lawyer, best divorce lawyer, best divorce law firm, best criminal lawyer, best criminal law firm, best consumer lawyer, best civil lawyer.

JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY NISHTHA GARHWAL

Click here to view the judgement