Bilaspur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that the appointment of male candidates against women-reserved posts in a teacher recruitment process conducted by Raipur Municipal Corporation was illegal.
Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey of the High Court ruled that posts reserved for women cannot be filled by candidates from another category without a valid legal provision. However, considering that the 12 teachers have been working for nearly 12 years, the court did not cancel their appointments.Instead, the court directed the Raipur Municipal Corporation Commissioner to pay ₹3 lakh compensation to petitioner Namrata Devangan, who had challenged the recruitment process.
What was the case?
Raipur Municipal Corporation had issued an advertisement in 2013-14 for recruitment to the post of Assistant Teacher (Shiksha Karmi Class-3, Science).After the recruitment process was completed, 12 posts reserved for OBC women candidates were filled by male candidates, which was challenged before the High Court.Petitioner Namrata Devangan, a resident of Dhamtari, approached the court alleging that her opportunity was affected because male candidates were appointed against posts meant for OBC women.She told the court that she had secured 60.70 marks under the OBC women category and was placed at 1594th position in the merit list, but the reserved posts were not allotted according to the prescribed category.
Corporation argued candidates did not meet marks criteria
During the hearing, Raipur Municipal Corporation argued that eligible women candidates had not secured the required minimum marks, and therefore the posts were filled by male candidates from the same category.The corporation relied on a 1997 circular in support of its decision.However, the High Court rejected the argument and observed that reserved posts for women cannot be converted into another category without a specific legal rule or provision.The court termed such conversion of reserved posts as unlawful.
Existing teachers allowed to continue
While the court found the recruitment process irregular, it decided not to terminate the services of the 12 male teachers appointed in 2014.The court considered that they had been working for a long period and had built their careers based on the appointment.The judgment also noted that the petitioner later received appointment as a mathematics teacher, but she had suffered mental and financial hardship due to the earlier denial of opportunity.
Compensation ordered for petitioner
Taking into account the administrative lapse, the High Court ordered Raipur Municipal Corporation to provide ₹3 lakh compensation to Namrata Devangan.The court’s decision highlights that while authorities may consider practical consequences after a long period, recruitment rules and reservation provisions cannot be ignored during appointments.
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