Allahabad High Court
Vivek Kumar And 6 Others vs State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. ... on 8 August, 2023
Bench: Manish Mathur
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC-LKO:52241
Court No. - 20
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 5719 of 2023
Petitioner :- Vivek Kumar And 6 Others
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Deptt. Medical Health And Family Welfare Lucknow And 2 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Anurag Srivastava
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Gaurav Mehrotra
Hon'ble Manish Mathur,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for petitioners, learned State Counsel for opposite party nos.1 and 2 and Ms. Maria Fatima, learned counsel for opposite party no.3, whose Power is taken on record.
2. Petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, has been filed raising challenge to advertisement dated 12th July, 2023 for purposes of appointment on the post of Optometrist in the Department of Medical & Health Services, Lucknow.
3. Primary ground of challenge to aforesaid advertisement is that a total of 157 posts of Optometrist has been advertised without provision of reservation for Scheduled Caste category to which petitioners belong.
4. Learned State Counsel as well as learned counsel for opposite party no.3 have been provided copy of requisition dated 10th April, 2023 and 05th August, 2023, which are taken on record, and as per the same, there are a total of 773 posts out of which 163 posts belonging to Scheduled Caste category are completely filled up without any vacancy therein. It is indicated that due to the said fact there is no vacancy on the reserved category of Scheduled Caste there was no occasion to have advertised the same.
5. Learned counsel for opposite party no.3 has also placed reliance on judgment rendered by the Apex Court in the case of R.K. Sabharwal and others vs. State of Punjab and others; (1995) 2 SCC 745 to submit that as a consequence thereof the percentage of reservation has to be worked out in relation to the number of posts which form the cadre-strength and therefore, the concept of 'vacancy' has no relevance in operating the percentage of reservation as per each advertisement.
6. Considering the aforesaid requisitions as well as judgment rendered by the Apex Court, it is evident that all the posts belonging to the Scheduled Caste category for the post of Optometrist having already being occupied, there cannot be said to be any vacancy which could be advertised in the impugned advertisement. Therefore there is no occasion to interfere with the impugned advertisement.
7. Learned counsel for petitioners has submitted that petitioner nos.2 to 5 are working in the department on contractual basis since 2012 but there is no provision of advertisement for provision of any weightage to the petitioners with regard to such terms.
8. So far as the aforesaid submission is concerned, it shall be open to the petitioners to make a representation before the concerned authority for providing any weightage, which shall be considered, in accordance with law.
9. Considering the aforesaid, the petition stands dismissed regarding challenge to impugned advertisement.
Order Date :- 8.8.2023
Arnima
