Jharkhand High Court
Santosh Chaudhari vs The State Of Jharkhand & Anr on 25 February, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 109 of 2021
Santosh Chaudhari ..... ...Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand & Anr. ..... ...Opposite Parties
with
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 114 of 2021
with
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 124 of 2021
with
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 186 of 2021
with
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 192 of 2021
with
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 193 of 2021
with
Cont. Case (Civil) No. 290 of 2021
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CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR DWIVEDI
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For the Petitioners : Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Sr. Advocate
: Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Advocate
: Mrs. Aanya, Advocate
: Mr. Amritansh Vats, Advocate
For the State : Mrs. Vandana Singh, Sr. S.C.-III.
For the JSSC : Mr. Sanjay Piprawall, Advocate.
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10/ 25.02.2022 These petitions have been heard through Video Conferencing
in view of the guidelines of the High Court taking into account the situation
arising due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Cont. Case (Civil) No. 109 of 2021 was filed on 17.02.2021
and several orders have been passed in this contempt petition along with
analogous cases.
3. Reference may be made to the orders dated 01.10.2021,
22.10.2021 and 17.12.2021, which are self-explanatory. In order dated
17.12.2021, it has been categorically recorded that for one subject i.e.
History/Civics the opposite parties have already made the appointments.
Today it has been informed by Mr. Prashant Bhushan, learned senior
counsel as well as Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, learned senior counsel appearing
for the petitioners that for the district of Godda and Deoghar in the subject
of Sanskrit, the opposite parties have made the appointments and for the
other districts they are not proceeding.
4. It is unfortunate that several orders have been passed by this
Court and the observation of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in S.L.P. (Civil)
Diary No. 14132 of 2021 and also in S.L.P. (Civil) Diary No. 14812 of
2020, the opposite parties are not complying the said orders. The Hon'ble
Supreme Court in S.L.P. (Civil) Diary No. 14132 of 2021 passed the
following order:-
"Permission to file special leave petition is granted.
Learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the
petitioners points out that in W.P. (C) No.1387/2017, the
High Court had observed as follows -
"We also propose to make it abundantly clear that
by the ad-interim order dated 18.9.2019 passed by
this Court in these writ applications, the selection
process was never stayed by the Court in the non-
scheduled districts, though, as informed to us, it
had erroneously been taken by the State
Government like that. There was no stay for
appointments on any post in the nonscheduled
districts, or for that matter there was no stay for
the appointments even in the scheduled districts,
rather, only the operation of the Notification No.
5938 dated 14.7.2016 was stayed by this Court. In
other words, the appointments could be continued
to be made even in the scheduled districts, ignoring
the aforesaid notification."
It is submitted that the petitioners are
candidates who had applied for posts of Trained Graduate
Teacher in Government Secondary Schools in non-
scheduled districts of Jharkhand under Advertisement
No.21 of 2016. There was no reservation therein for
locals/domicile of non-scheduled districts. The subject
matter in SLP(C)No.12490 of 2020 relates to appointments
from the scheduled districts of Jharkhand.
In the circumstances, we deem it appropriate to
dispose of the special leave petition granting liberty to the
petitioners to file an application for modification of the
impugned order before the High Court, more particularly
with regard to paragraph no.66 as extracted above.
The Special Leave Petition is disposed of with
the aforesaid liberty.
Pending applications shall also stand disposed
of."
5. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has passed the aforesaid order
after considering Para-66 of the Full Bench judgment of this Court,
wherein there was no order so far as the non-scheduled districts are
concerned.
6. It has been submitted that pursuant to order of Hon'ble
Supreme Court (Supra), the co-ordinate Bench of this Court, vide order
dated 25.05.2021 has recalled the order and also modified the same in the
light of the order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in S.L.P. (Civil)
Diary No. 14132 of 2021.
7. By order dated 17.12.2021, Principal Secretary, Department
of Personnel Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Government of
Jharkhand, Ranchi and the Principal Secretary, School Education and
Literacy Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi were directed to
remain present before the Court, if the order of the Writ Court is not
complied. Admittedly, the order of the writ Court has not been complied
with and both the Secretaries have also not joined the proceeding though
Video Conferencing, which shows that both the Secretaries are above the
Court of law and they have got no respect for the orders passed by the High
Court as well as the Supreme Court. There is no reason assigned or stated
by any affidavit why the pick and choose method has been adopted by the
State.
8. Mrs. Vandana Singh, learned Sr. S.C.-III, appearing for the
State submits that she was in receipt of the instructions yesterday that both
the Secretaries of the concerned Department are busy with the meeting due
to ensuing State Legislative Assembly Session, for that I.As. have been
filed on their behalf for exemption of appearance of both the Secretaries for
today only.
9. During the course of proceeding, the office has placed the
I.A. Nos.1492 and 1493 of 2022 [filed in Cont. Case (Civil) No. 192 of
2021] for exemption of both the Secretaries to appear before this Court for
today.
10. Much indulgence has already been granted to the contemnors.
Both are playing with the Court. However, in the light of the I.As., both of
them have been exempted from the appearance for today.
11. Both the Secretaries are directed to appear in this Court on
04.03.2022. It is made clear that if they failed to appear on that date, the
appropriate warrants shall be issued against them to produce them before
the Court. It is expected that by the next date of listing, the order shall be
complied with in its letter and spirit.
12. Let these matter appear on 04.03.2022. Both the Secretaries,
i.e. Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel Administrative Reforms
and Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi and the Principal
Secretary, School Education and Literacy Department, Government of
Jharkhand, Ranchi are directed to appear before the Court, in terms of the
proceedings decided by the High Court either through Video Conferencing
mode or physically.
13. Mrs. Vandana Singh, learned Sr.S.C.-III, appearing for the
State shall communicate both the Secretaries.
14. In view of the above, both the interlocutory applications are
allowed and disposed of.
(Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, J.)
Amitesh/-
