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1976 DIGILAW 67 (KAR)

KRISHNAMURTHY v. STATE OF KARNATAKA

1976-04-08

CHANDRASHEKARAIAH, SADANANDASWAMY

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CHANDRASHEKHAR, J. ( 1 ) THIS is an appeal from the order of Malimath, J, dismissing WP. 2015 of 1973. The appellants and the respondents herein were respectively the petitioners and the respondents therein. For the sake of convenience, the appellants will hereinafter be referred to as the petitioners. ( 2 ) OF the three petitioners, petitioner 2 has since been posted as First divn Clerk in the Commercial Tax Dept and hence he has no subsisting grievance. This appeal is now confined to petitioners 1 and 3 only. ( 3 ) THE material facts are briefly these: Petitioners 1 and 3 had been appointed as local candidates for the posts of First Divn Clerk and Second divn Clerk respectively in the Commercial Tax Dept of Karnataka State. By its Notification dated 14-1-1972, the State Public Service Commission, (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) called for applications, inter alia, for the pests of First Divn Clerks in several Depts of the State Govt. Petitioners 1 and 3 had applied for those posts and had expressed in their applications preference for being allotted to the Commercial Taxes Dept. In the examination held by the Commission, they were among the successful candidates. In the Notification of the Commission dt. 1-2-1973 (Ext. A) published in the Gazette, petitioners 1 and 3 were assigned to the Accounts unit of the Office of the Chief Engineer, Communication and Buildings. ( 4 ) THE petitioners' grievance is that they should have been assigned to the Commercial Taxes Dept in which they had been working as local candidates and to which Dept they had expressed their preference. ( 5 ) IN the writ petition, petitioners 1 and 3 had prayed for- (i) quashing the notification, Ext. A, in so far as it related to allotment of successful candidates to the Commercial Taxes Dept; and (ii) issuing a writ in the nature of mandamus directing respondents 1 to 3 (the State of Karnataka, the Commission and the Commr of Comml taxes in Karnataka) to allot them (Petitioners 1 and 3) to the Commercial taxes Department. ( 6 ) PETITIONERS 1 and 3 were accepted as belonging to Scheduled castes and Backward Classes respectively, for whom 15 per cent and 30 per cent respectively of the posts are reserved under the Govt Order dt. ( 6 ) PETITIONERS 1 and 3 were accepted as belonging to Scheduled castes and Backward Classes respectively, for whom 15 per cent and 30 per cent respectively of the posts are reserved under the Govt Order dt. 6-9-1969 (as amended upto 16-6-1972) providing for reservation for backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Petitioners 1 and 3 had secured 72 marks and 86 marks respectively in the aforesaid competitive examination. The learned single Judge held that since the last candidate allotted to the Commercial Taxes Dept, had secured 97 marks, petitioners 1 and 3 who had secured much lower marks, could not complain about their not being allotted to the Commercial Taxes Dept. The learned single Judge took the view that the requirement of reservation of posts for Scheduled Castes and the other Backward Classes, would be satisfied if out of the total number of First Divn Clerks and Assistants appointed for several Depts and Units, 15 percent and 30 per cent of such total number are filled by candidates belonging to these two categories and that it is not required that these percentages of posts should be reserved in each of the several Dents or Units for which recruitment is made. On the other hand, the contention on behalf of petitioners 1 and 3, is that those percentages of reservation should be made in each of such Depts and Units. ( 7 ) THE short question for determnation in this appeal is this: When there is a combined recruitment to a common cadre in differen Depts and unit Offices of the State administration, whether reservation of percen- tagps of posts for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward classes as prescribed by the Govt Order (providing for reservation for backward Classes in State Services) in that cadre should be in each of such Depts and Unit Offices or whether it is sufficient to make reservation of such percentages in the total number of posts in that cadre in all such Departments and Unit Offices. ( 8 ) IN order to appreciate the rival contentions of Mr. T. S. Ramachandra, learned Counsel for appellants 1 and 3, and the learned Addl govt Advocate who appeared for respondents 1 to 3, it is necessary to set out the relevant rules and the relevant Government Order. ( 8 ) IN order to appreciate the rival contentions of Mr. T. S. Ramachandra, learned Counsel for appellants 1 and 3, and the learned Addl govt Advocate who appeared for respondents 1 to 3, it is necessary to set out the relevant rules and the relevant Government Order. ( 9 ) RECRUITMENT to ministerial posts in the State Civil Services, is governed by the Karnataka State Civil Services (Recruitment to Ministerial Posts) rules, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules), made under the proviso to Art. 309 of the Constitution. ( 10 ) RULES 10 of the Rules reads :" 10. Lists of selected candidates.-On the basis of the aggregate marks obtained in the written examinations and taking into consideration the orders in force relating to reservation of posts for Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes, and the preferences indicated by the candidates in their application, the Commission shall prepare in the order of merit, lists of candidates eligible for appointment to the different cadres in the different offices. The number of candidates to be included in such lists shall, as far as possible, be ten per cent more than the number of vacancies notified under sub-rule (1) of Rule 7. The lists so prepared shall be published in such manner as the State Govt may direct, and copies thereof sent to the different offices concerned. " ( 11 ) SUB-PARA (b) of Para 7 of the Govt Order providing for reservation for Backward Classes, reads : "7 (b ). When a combined competitive examination is held for purposes of selection of candidates to fill up vacancies in posts in Class iii in different services of the State, the total number of vacancies to be filled shall form one unit and vacancies shall be reserved for scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castse and other Backward Classes as specified in Para 1 or Para 7a, as the case may be. " ( 12 ) THE material parts of Para 7a of the Govt Order, read :" 7a. Notwithstanding the percentage of reservation specified in. " ( 12 ) THE material parts of Para 7a of the Govt Order, read :" 7a. Notwithstanding the percentage of reservation specified in. Para 1 (a) (i) one vacancy, or two vacancies, as the case may be, shall be reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes where the total number of vacancies to be filled at any recruitment is not less than three and not more than 20 or less than twenty-one and not more than 40, as the case may be;" (b) one vacancy or two vacancies, as the case may be shall be reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes where the total number of vacancies to be filled at any recruitment is not less than five and not more than seven or not less than seven or not less than eight and not more than fourteen, as the ease may be; " ( 13 ) UNDER Rule 10, the Commission has to prepare a list of First Divn clerks eligible for appointment for each office on the basis of- (i) marks in the examination; (ii) reservation for Backward Classes according to the Govt Orders in force; and (iii) the preference indicated by the candidate in their application. ( 14 ) WHERE the number of successfuul candidates who express preference for a particular Dept or Unit Office, exceeds the number of posts! of 1st Divn Clerks to be filled therein, the question will arise as to how the selection has to be made among such successful candidates. There is no dispute that the marks secured by such candidates in the competitive examination should form the basis for such selection; but this is subject to reservation for Backward Classes. Rule 10 does not itself provide how such reservation should be made. To decide whether such reservation should be made in making selection for each Dept or Unit Office or whether it is sufficient if the prescribed percentages or posts are reserved in the total number of first Divn Clerks and Assistants selected for all Depts and Unit Offices for which a combined recruitment is made, we should look to the terms of the govt Order providing for reservation for Backward Classes. . ( 15 ) THERE is no dispute that the posts of First Divn Clerks and Assts are Class III posts in the State Civil Services. . ( 15 ) THERE is no dispute that the posts of First Divn Clerks and Assts are Class III posts in the State Civil Services. Sub-para (b) of Para 7 of the aforesaid Govt Order expressly states that when a combined competitive examination is held for selection of candidates for Class III posts in - different services of the State, the total number of vacancies to be filled shall form one unit. That sub-para does not provide that there should be separate reservation for Backward Classes in filling Class III posts in each of the Depts and Unit Offices when a combined competitive examination is held for the purpose of selection of candidates to fill such posts in those departmtents and Unit Offices. ( 16 ) HENCE, we are unable to accept the contention of Mr. Ramachandra that in making selection for the posts of First Divn Clerks in the commercial Taxes Dept, there should have been a separate reservation of 15 per cent of such posts for Scheduled Castes and 30 per cent of such posts for other Backward Classes. ( 17 ) MR. Ramachandra submitted that if the method of reservation for Backward Classes adopted by the Commission, should be upheld, reservation for Backward Classes provided by the Govt Order, will be very ineffective inasmuch as very few candidates belonging to Backward Classes will get selected for the Depts in which prospects of promotion are good and that most of the candidates belonging to Backward Classes will get selected for only those Depts wherein the prospects of promotion are very slender. Mr. Ramachandra illustrated his above point by taking the case of the Commercial Taxes Dept in which persons who join as First Divn clerks have fair prospects of being promoted in due course as Commercial tax Inspectors, Asst Commercial Tax Officers and Commercial Tax Officers successively if not as Asst Commissioners of Commercial Tax. Mr. Ramachandra submitted that in Depts like Public Works and Public Instruction, most of the persons who enter service as First Divn Clerks have hardly any prospect of being promoted to higher cadres and that even if a few of them get promotions after long years of service, such promotions will hardly be beyond one or two cadres above that of First Divn Clerks. ( 18 ) MR. ( 18 ) MR. RAMACHANDRA pointed out that out of 75 First Divn Clerks selected by the Commission for the Commercial Taxes Dept, only 3 candidates belong to Scheduled Castes and 10 candidates to other Backward classes and no candidate to Schedule Tribes and that the percentages of posts secured by Backward Classes candidates in the Commercial Taxes dept are far below those provided in the aforesaid Govt Order. It was also pointed out by Mr. Ramachandra that out of 50 First Divn Clerks selected by the Commission for the Accounts Unit in the Office of the Chief engineer, Communication and Buildings. 44 candidates belong to Schedule castes and other Backward Classes; that in the Unit of the Joint Director of Public Instruction, Mysore Divn, out of 28 First Divn Clerks selected, 14 belong to Scheduled Castes. ( 19 ) IT is seen from the records of the Commission produced before us that out of 20 First Divn Clerks selected for the Office of the Joint Director of Public Instruction, Gulbarga Divn, 19 candidates belong to Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes and that the position is about the same in regard to Firt Divn Clerks selected for the Office of the Joint Director of fublic Insruction, Bangalore Division. ( 20 ) MR. Ramachandra is right in his submission that the selection made by the Commission (according to its understanding of the method of reservation contemplated for by the Govt Order providing for reservation for Backward Classes) has resulted in heavy concentration of First divn Clerks belonging to Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward Clashes in Depts of the Govt wherein the prospects of promotion are bleak and correspondingly heavy concentration of First Divn Clerks not belonging to Backward Classes, in Depts of the Govt wherein the prospects of promotion are substantially. better. It is true that advancement of backward Classes in services, will be better served by providing separate reservation for them in each of the Depts of the Govt instead of taking as one unit for the purpose of reservation all the posts which are filled by a combined recruitment. But, this is a policy matter for the Govt to decide. It is true that advancement of backward Classes in services, will be better served by providing separate reservation for them in each of the Depts of the Govt instead of taking as one unit for the purpose of reservation all the posts which are filled by a combined recruitment. But, this is a policy matter for the Govt to decide. We are unable to hold that the method of reservation adopted by the commission in making selection of First Divn Clerks for the different depts and Unit Offices, is not in accordance with Rule 10 or the Govt order providing for reservation for Backward Classes. ( 21 ) WE do not see any good grounds to dissent from the view taken by the learned Single Judge. ( 22 ) IN the result, this appeal fails and is dismissed. But in the circumstances of the case, we direct the parties to bear their own costs in this appeal. --- *** --- .