Chattisgarh High Court
State Of Chhattisgarh vs Akhilesh Kumar Mishra on 25 October, 2021
1
AFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR
Writ Appeal No.322 of 2019
1. State of Chhattisgarh Through The Principal Secretary, Tribal Welfare
Development Department, Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur,
District Raipur Chhattisgarh.
2. The Commisioner Chhattisgarh State Level Tribal Welfare, Awasiya, Evam
Ashram Shaikshshnik, Sansthan Samiti, Indrawati Bhawan, Atal Nagar,
Nawa Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh.
3. The Assistant Commissioner Tribal Welfare And Development Department,
Gourela- Pendra- Marwahi, Chhattisgarh.
4. The Collector Office Of The Collector, District- Gourela- Pendra- Marwahi
Chhattisgarh.
5. The Principal Government Eklavya Adarsh Avasiya Vidhyalaya, Dongariya,
District Gourela- Pendra- Marwahi Chhattisgarh.
---- Appellants
Versus
1. Akhilesh Kumar Mishra S/o Shri Phekulal Mishra Aged About 30 Years
Occupation- Guest Teacher (T.G.T. English), Government Eklavya Adarsh
Avasiya Vidhyalaya, Dongariya, District Gourela- Pendra- Marwahi,
Chhattisgarh. R/o Village Raweli, Post- Vijaypur, Tehsil- Lormi, District-
Mungeli Chhattisgarh.
2. Bhimsen Sonwani S/o Shri Tulsi Prasad Aged About 27 Years Occupation-
Guest Teacher (T.G.T. English), Government Eklavya Adarsh Avasiya
Vidhyalaya, Dongariya, District Gourela- Pendra- Marwahi, Chhattisgarh.
R/o Village Bargawan, Post- Bharridand, Tehsil- Marwahi, District- Gourela-
Pendra- Marwani, Chhattisgarh.
---- Respondents
(Cause-title taken from Case Information System)
For Appellants/State : Mr. Siddharth Dubey, Deputy Government Advocate
For Respondents : Mr. Swajit Singh, Advocate
Hon'ble Shri Arup Kumar Goswami, Chief Justice
Hon'ble Shri Sanjay K. Agrawal, Judge
Judgment on Board
Per Arup Kumar Goswami, Chief Justice
25.10.2021
Heard Mr. Siddharth Dubey, learned Deputy Government Advocate for
the appellants. Also heard Mr. Swajit Singh, learned counsel appearing for the
respondents.
2. This writ appeal is presented against an order dated 04.11.2020
passed by learned Single Judge in Writ Petition (S) No.4573 of 2020 allowing the
writ petition with the following operative directions, which are at paragraphs 7 and 8
of the order under assailment.
3. Paragraphs 7 and 8 are extracted herein-below for better
appreciation:
"7. This Court, under the given circumstances, is
inclined to accept the same analogy in the case of
the petitioners also and accordingly it is ordered
that unless there is any complaint received against
the performance of the petitioners, the
respondents are restrained from going in for any
fresh recruitment of a Guest Teacher for the said
subject under the respondent No.5 against which
the petitioners were engaged.
8. It is however made clear that the protection to
the petitioners would be only to the extent of not
being replaced by another set of Guest Teachers.
This would not preclude the State Government
from going in for filling up of the post by way of a
regular appointment or by way of engaging
contractual teachers under the rules for
contractual employment. The remuneration of the
guest teachers shall be guided by the fresh set of
payment which may be decided by the State as
there cannot be two sets of payments for the same
post."
4. The writ petitioners approached this Court assailing an advertisement
dated 21.09.2020 inviting applications for recruitment of Guest Teachers in respect
of 71 Eklavya Adarsh Awasi School. Case of the writ petitioners was that after
undergoing a due process of selection for being appointed as Guest Teachers, they
were selected as Guest Teachers for the academic session 2019-20 and that their
performance was also satisfactory. In the background of aforesaid factual matrix, it
was contended that inviting applications for Guest Teachers for the subsequent
year for the very same subjects which the petitioners were teaching was contrary to
the decision of Hon'ble Surpeme Court in State of Haryana & Others v. Piara
Singh and Others reported in (1992) 4 SCC 118.
5. Mr. Siddharth Dubey, learned counsel for the appellants submits that
the impugned judgment was delivered by the learned Single Judge without
affording an opportunity to the State to rebut the contention and therefore, the
order is liable to be set aside on the ground of violation of principles of natural
justice.
6. Shri Swajit Singh, learned counsel for the respondents/writ petitioners,
on the other hand, submits that the learned Single Judge relied on an established
proposition of law and therefore, even if any opportunity was granted, the same
would not have enured to the benefit of the appellants. Therefore, in the facts and
circumstances of the case, no prejudice can be said to have been caused to the
appellants, he submits.
7. We have considered the submissions of learned counsel for the
parties and have perused the material on record.
8. Though, it is true that the writ petition came to be disposed of without
affording an opportunity to the State to file its response, what cannot be lost sight
of the fact is that the law is well-settled that an ad hoc employee cannot be
replaced by another ad hoc employee and that the position of Guest Teachers is
akin to an ad hoc employee. The learned Single Judge had also noted that the
order of appointment of the writ petitioners had a clause mentioning that the
appointment so made are till an alternative arrangement is made by way of regular
recruitment/contractual/transfer. It is not pleaded in the writ appeal that there are
any complaints against the writ petitioners or that their service was otherwise not
satisfactory. Therefore, in our considered opinion, even though the appellants were
not given an opportunity of contesting the writ petition, under the facts and
circumstances of the case, according to our perception, no prejudice was caused
to the appellants.
9. In that view of the matter, we see no good ground to interfere with the
order of the learned Single Judge and accordingly, the writ appeal being devoid of
merit, is dismissed. No costs.
Sd/- Sd/-
(Arup Kumar Goswami) (Sanjay K. Agrawal)
Chief Justice Judge
Anu
