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Lokesh Katara and Anr. v. Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat

Writ Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 758 of 2016)Decided 14 Dec 2016
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 758 of 2016
Chief Justice T.S. Thakur · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice L. Nageswara Rao

Background

The two petitioners had been working as Systems Officers and Systems Assistants on a contractual basis in the Gujarat High Court and district courts since 2009. After the state government sanctioned regular posts for these roles in 2013 and amended recruitment rules in 2015 to fill them by direct recruitment, the petitioners sought absorption into the regular cadre instead, but their representation was rejected in May 2016. When the High Court subsequently advertised the posts for open recruitment in September 2016, the petitioners filed a writ petition directly in the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution, challenging the advertisement and seeking a direction to amend the recruitment rules to allow their absorption.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court declined to entertain the writ petition filed directly under Article 32, holding that the petitioners had an available and appropriate remedy of approaching the Gujarat High Court itself on its judicial side under Article 226 of the Constitution. The Court left it open to the petitioners to institute such proceedings before the High Court as they saw fit, and on that basis dismissed the writ petition before it.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court's direct writ jurisdiction under Article 32 is not meant to substitute for the High Court's writ jurisdiction under Article 226; service-related grievances against a High Court's own recruitment process should ordinarily first be taken to the jurisdictional High Court itself.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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