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Nandan Prakash Saroj and 15 Others vs. State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy., Deptt. of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Lko. and 2 Others

Writ Petition (Service) · 2024:AHC-LKO:4369Decided 16 Jan 2024Lucknow Bench
Writ-A No. 122 of 2024CNR: UPHC020005762024
Justice Manish Kumar

Background

The petitioners had worked as Optometrists on a contractual basis since 2012-2017 under the National Health Mission (NHM). When the U.P. Subordinate Services Selection Commission advertised regular Optometrist posts in July 2023, the petitioners sought weightage in the selection process for their years of contractual service, relying on an earlier judgment (Seema Singh v. State of U.P.) that had granted similar relaxation to Health Workers. The State rejected their representation, and the petitioners challenged that rejection in this writ petition.

Decision Breakdown

The Court noted that it had already decided an identical case (Deepak Singh v. State of U.P.) on near-identical facts by applying Seema Singh, reasoning that the relaxation clause governing Optometrists (Rule 25 of the 2000 Rules) is worded verbatim identically to the relaxation clause for Health Workers (Rule 26 of the 1997 Rules) that Seema Singh had interpreted. The State's rejection order had wrongly held Seema Singh inapplicable to Optometrists on the basis that the two posts are governed by different rules. The Court found this distinction legally unsustainable given the identical wording of the relaxation provisions. The rejection order was quashed, the writ petition was allowed, and the State was directed to reconsider the petitioners' candidature with weightage for their contractual service, within four weeks.

Lesson Learnt

A government order rejecting a claim by narrowly (and wrongly) distinguishing a binding precedent on a technicality can be struck down. If a relaxation or benefit rule for one category of contractual employees is worded identically to one already interpreted favourably for a different category, courts will apply that interpretation across categories.

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