TMI Blog1989 (11) TMI 313X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ommissioner Varanasi Division dated February 13, 1980 setting aside the order of Municipal Board, Jaunpur appointing the appellant as Tax Inspector. The Municipal Board, Jaunpur issued advertisement inviting applications for appointment to the post of Tax Inspector. The advertisement stated that the existing employees of the Revenue Department of the Municipal Board were eligible for consideration along with outsiders. Hari Mohan Respondent No. 3 who was the senior most Tax Collector working in the Municipal Board, Jaunpur was called for interview but he refused to appear for the interview on the plea that the post of Tax Inspector should have been exclusively filled by promotion and as he was the senior most Tax Collector he should be p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder the provision of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') or any rules framed thereunder or under the Government Order dated 10.4.1950 the post of Tax Inspector was required to be filled by promotion only and not by direct recruitment. The Prescribed Authority i.e., the Commissioner as well as the High Court both proceeded on the assumption that the Government Order dated 10.4.50 had been issued by the State Government in exercise of its supervisory powers under s. 71 of the Act and as such it was binding on the Municipal Board, and the directions contained therein required the Municipal Board to fill up the post of Tax Inspector exclusively by promotion and not by direct recruitment. In making t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Bench for an authoritative decision. But in the instant case the learned Judge acted contrary to the well established principles of judicial discipline in ignoring those decisions. Section 71 of the Act before its amendment in 1964 did not confer power on the State Government to issue any direction regulating the conditions of service of Municipal employees. The view taken by the High Court in Ramesher Prasad case and followed in other two cases, is correct. The High Court placed reliance on the Government Orders dated 27.4.57, 9.12.59 and 30.1.72 in holding that the directions contained in Government Order dated 10.4.50 were binding on the Municipal Board. We have gone through the aforesaid Government Orders and Notifications but we fin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rring at random officials in one class of service to another should be stopped. 6. When direct recruitment to any post specified in the annexure had to be made it will be governed by the educational qualifications shown therein. Recruitments to posts from outside should, however, as far as possible be made by inviting applications through advertisement in the press and making a selection therefrom preferably be means of a competitive test. Local Bodies may also be advised to form a Committee consisting of the Chairman or the President, the Executive Officer or the Secretary, as the case may be, and the principal administrative officer of the department concerned, to make a selection from among the applicants for a vacant post by interv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion of promotion. Paragraph 5 as quoted earlier directed that promotion as a rule should be made from the lower to the higher post or grade in the same class of service subject to the directions contained in other paragraphs of the Order which means subject to the employee possessing the minimum qualifications prescribed for the higher post and the higher post should not be filled by transferring employees belonging to other class of service. Paragraph 6 directed that in case of direct recruitment to any post as specified in the annexure of the Order it should be governed by the educational qualifications prescribed in the Order and recruitment should be made in accordance with the procedure prescribed therein by constituting a committee a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iving any notice or opportunity to him. It is an elementary principle of natural justice that no person should be condemned without hearing. The order of appointment conferred a vested right in the appellant to hold the post of Tax Inspector, that right could not be taken away without affording opportunity of hearing to him. Any order passed in violation of principles of natural justice is rendered void. There is no dispute that the Commissioner's Order had been passed without affording any opportunity of hearing to the appellant therefore the order was illegal and void. The High Court committed serious error in upholding the Commissioner's Order setting aside the appellant's appointment. In this view, Orders of the High Court a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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