Vacates interim orders, paves way for Panchayat Secys selection
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 25: Holding that draft rules unless accepted cannot be relied upon for taking any benefit particularly in view of the existence of already applicable statutory rules, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has made it clear that supporting staff engaged under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) cannot be permanently absorbed in the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department.
Moreover, bench of Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal has vacated the interim directions which have stalled the recruitment for 1395 posts of Panchayat Secretary and seriously jeopardized the functioning of the department with the observation that courts should not stay the selection process where the public interest is involved.
The petitioners were engaged as Gram Rozgar Sevak (GRS) on contractual basis for a period of one year under MGNREGA. They were seeking their claim on the basis of a proposed amendment in J&K Rural Development (Sub-ordinate) Service Recruitment Rules, 2007 whereby the post of GRS has been proposed to be incorporated in Clause V and Category D as one of the feeding cadre post for promotion to the post of Panchayat Secretary/Village Level Workers.
The further case of the petitioners was that an Advertisement Notification No.03 of 2022 dated 26.05.2022 was issued advertising 1395 posts of Panchayat Secretary. They expressed apprehension that if the selection process is completed and 1395 posts of Panchayat Secretary are filled up there may not be any vacancy left for GRS, whereto they would be promoted.
The High Court, in different writ petitions of Gram Rozgar Sevaks, passed interim directions due to which selection process for 1395 posts of Panchayat Secretary could not be finalized till date.
After hearing both the sides, Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal observed, “the petitioners are admittedly the contractual employees, who were engaged under MGNREGA Scheme and whose engagements were co-terminus with the scheme. They have filed the instant petitions on the basis of a proposed draft amendment in the Recruitment Rules, which till date, has not seen the light of the day and has not been accepted by the Government”.
“The law is settled that the draft rules unless accepted and takes the form of statutory flavor cannot be relied upon for taking any benefit particularly in view of the existence of already applicable statutory rules”, High Court said, adding “in compliance to order dated 16.06.2022, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj considered the case of the petitioners for regularization and rejected the same”.
High Court further said, “the perusal of MGNREGA guidelines reveals that services of MGNREGA supporting staff are hired purely on contractual basis and there is no provision under law for their permanent absorption in the existing Recruitment Rules, as their contractual engagements shall expire with the expiry of the scheme/period of their contract, whichever is earlier”.
“Even an exercise was carried out by the department for adjustment of the subordinate staff in the erstwhile State against the posts of non-gazetted cadre of the department and it was found that the proposal requires amendment in the Rules of 2007. Accordingly, the case was examined and proposal in this regard was not agreed upon by the Law and Finance Departments as such there is presently no policy with the Government for regularization/absorption of the supporting staff engaged under MGNREGA on contractual basis”.
Justice Nargal further said, “the entire basis of the petitioners’ case to the extent of challenging the impugned notification falls flat and consequently, the interim directions deserve to be vacated as the official respondents have finalized the selection and a provisional select list has been issued but due to the rider imposed by this court, the final select list could not be issued, which has caused grave prejudice to the private respondents”, adding “it is beyond any cavil of doubt that before passing an interim order, the courts should not only consider the prima-facie case, balance of convenience and irreparable injury, but also has to consider the affect on public interest, as well. The public interest in the instant cases demands that the process should be continued”.
“Since the respondents have projected acute shortage of manpower to run the administration and the stalling of selection process is in nobody’s interest, therefore, this court deems it proper to permit the official respondents to go ahead with the selection process and make appointments, which, however, shall be subject to the final outcome of the present proceedings”, High Court ordered while vacating the interim orders.
High Court said, “it is very strange that the petitioners instead of participating in the selection process, have filed the instant writ petitions with a view to stall the selection process by way of misrepresentation of the facts and on mere apprehension as they have based their claim on the draft rules, the proposal of which has already been rejected by the competent authority”.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
