TMI Blog2016 (5) TMI 1612X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ble for appointment thereafter. The High Court rightly held that the candidates much more than the vacancies advertised have already been permitted to join and thus the Appellants cannot claim any legal right in respect of the posts of reserved category remaining unfilled. The impugned judgment does not suffer from any infirmity warranting interference in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. Appeal dismissed. - T.S. THAKUR, C.J.I. AND R. BANUMATHI, J. For the Appellant : Kamini Jaiswal and Shumaila Altaf, Advs. For the Respondent : Manjit Singh, Sr. Adv., Rakesh Kumar Khanna, AAG, Vivekta Singh, Rahul Gupta, Jasdeep Singh Dhillon and Kuldeep Singh, Advs. JUDGMENT R. BANUMATHI, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. These appeals are preferred against the common judgment dated 13.02.2012 whereby the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dismissed the writ petitions C.W.P. No. 20135 of 2008, C.W.P. No. 20189 of 2008 and C.W.P. No. 21746 of 2008, holding that the Appellants cannot claim any legal right in respect of the posts remained unfilled as the select list stood exhausted with the joining of the candidates to the extent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... due to lack of vacancies. In Punjab, there was an ongoing litigation regarding selection of the judicial officers (Junior Division) in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 (known as Sidhu scam). In the said litigation in C.W.P. No. 1626 of 2003, as per the order of the Supreme Court, twenty two candidates were to be appointed. At that time in the Punjab Judicial Service, only six posts were available and therefore sixteen temporary posts were sanctioned by the Punjab Government on 22.07.2008 with a specific condition that those temporary posts shall be adjusted against the vacancies created due to future retirements/promotions/vacancies etc. and these sixteen posts shall be abolished one by one as and when a vacancy is available. In the meeting held on 06.07.2011, the Administrative Committee took note of the order of this Court and observed that three resultant vacancies of the year 2007-2008 stood consumed with the joining of seventeen candidates of the litigation pertaining to Sidhu scam case. 5. Feeling aggrieved, Appellants filed writ petitions before the High Court contending that three vacancies which remained unfilled due to non-joining of three candidates should have been offered ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Nos. 1, 5 and 32 of the merit list to whom appointment letters were issued, have not joined. Resultantly, as against 27 posts advertised for general category, 31 general category candidates have joined and are working. 10. There is no denying that the Appellants were placed in the select list at Sl. Nos. 35, 36 and 37. In the sixteenth meeting of Administrative Committee held on 08.12.2010, considering the representation of the Appellants it was resolved to recommend, subject to approval of the full court, to the Government of Punjab for their appointment as Civil Judges subject to availability of vacancies . But in the eighteenth meeting of the Administrative Committee held on 06.07.2011, the Committee took note of the direction issued by the Supreme Court to appoint twenty two candidates selected in the years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 who were not earlier appointed due to Sidhu scam. At that time only six vacancies were available. To accommodate those twenty two candidates, Government of Punjab had sanctioned sixteen temporary posts, with the stipulation that the post will be abolished one by one as and when a vacancy becomes available. Relevant minutes of the eighteenth meet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e decision is found to be based on some valid reason, the court would not issue any mandamus to government to fill up the vacancies. As noticed earlier, because twenty two other candidates were declared successful by the Supreme Court pertaining to the selection of the years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 as Civil Judges (Junior Division), they were to be accommodated, as rightly resolved by the Administrative Committee in the meeting dated 06.07.2011. The three resultant vacancies of the year 2007-2008 stood consumed with the joining of the said seventeen candidates and the same could not be filled up from the select list of that year. The decision of the Administrative Committee observing that the three resultant vacancies stood consumed is based on factual situation arising there and cannot be said to be arbitrary. 14. As noticed earlier, as against twenty seven posts of general category advertised for the year 2007-2008, thirty one general category candidates have joined and are working. In Rakhi Ray And Ors. v. High Court of Delhi And Ors. (2010) 2 SCC 637, observing that the vacancies cannot be filled up over and above the number of vacancies advertized, recruitment of the c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ection 7 of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006 as extracted in the impugned judgment reads as under: 7.(1) There shall be no de-reservation of any reserved vacancy by any appointing authority in any establishment, which is to be filled up by direct recruitment or by promotion. In case, a qualified or eligible Scheduled Castes or Backward Classes candidate, as the case may be, is not available to fill up such vacancy, in that situation, such vacancy shall remain unfilled. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-section (1), if, in the public interest, it is deemed necessary to fill up any vacancy referred to in that Sub-section, the appointing authority shall refer the vacancy to the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes for de-reservation. Upon such reference, the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes may, if it is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, by order in writing, de-reserve the vacancy, subject to the condition that the vacancy so de-reserved, shall be carried forward against a subsequent unreserved vacancy. 16. By perusal of Section 7, it appears th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or by mistake, it does not confer right upon the Appellants to claim equality. 18. Learned Counsel for the Appellants submitted that the Appellants have been pursuing the matter for about eight years and even today there are vacancies in Punjab Judicial Service and thus prayed that direction be issued to the Respondents to consider the case of the Appellants as against the existing vacancies. This contention does not merit acceptance. Appointment to an additional post or to existing vacancies would deprive candidates who were not eligible for appointment to the post on the date of submission of the applications mentioned in the advertisement but became eligible for appointment thereafter. After referring to Rakhi Ray, Rajkishore Nanda and other decisions, High Court rightly held that the candidates much more than the vacancies advertised have already been permitted to join and thus the Appellants cannot claim any legal right in respect of the posts of reserved category remaining unfilled. The impugned judgment does not suffer from any infirmity warranting interference in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. 19. The appeals are dismisse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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