Krishan Lal vs State Of Haryana & Ors

Krishan Lal ... Appellant

Versus

State of Haryana & Ors. ... Respondents

JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The Haryana Staff Selection Commission issued an advertisement for

the post of Mechanist Grinder Instructor in newspapers laying down the

following essential qualifications :

"(i) Matriculation/Senior Secondary/10th pass under 10+2 scheme.

(ii) National Trade certificate and Craft Instructor Training course in concerned Trade.

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(iii) Five years practical/teaching experience including the period mentioned at (ii) above from a reputed Industrial concern or recognized Institute.

(iv) Knowledge of Hindi upto Matric."

3. The appellant as also the respondent No.4 amongst others applied

pursuant to the said advertisement. The respondent No.4 had admittedly

been selected. Questioning the said selection and consequent appointment,

appellant herein filed a writ petition before the High Court, inter alia,

contending that he did not fulfill the criteria of five years practical/teaching

experience. It was pointed out that the certificates produced by him would

show that he had been working at different places at the same time and, thus,

the same could not have been taken into consideration.

4. The High Court rejected the said contention, stating:

"It is not disputed that on the basis of certificate mentioned at Sr. No.1, requisite benefit was given to respondent No.4 by the competent authority, in awarding marks for the Crafts course, which obviously means that the certificate has to be taken as a correct certificate.

With regard to above mentioned two certificates, (approximately for the same period), it has been stated that respondent No.4 was working in two shifts. Be that as it may, it is not necessary for us to go into that dispute on facts. If we ignore experience certificate mentioned at Sr. No.2, even then respondent No.4 completes the condition of 3

five years experience. It is clear from the record that to add five years experience, period spent in getting National Trade Certificate and Craft instructor Training Courts (sic Course) certificate is to be counted. Respondent No.4 has spent two years during those courses. Besides that, he has gained experience of two years against certificate mentioned at Sr. No.1 and about 2= years experience against certificate mentioned at Sr. No.3. Not only this, with reply, a certificate has been put on record from Maruti Udyog Limited (annexure R-2) showing that respondent No.4 has undergone apprenticeship training for one year. If we count the abovesaid periods of training/experience undergone by respondent No.4, total period of experience comes out to be more than five years. No other point was raised."

5. Aggrieved by the said judgment, the appellant is before us.

6. The respondent No.1 has filed a counter affidavit, inter alia,

contending that it had taken into consideration only two certificates and not

the third one which are as under :

S. Name of the firm period No. 1. Deep Precision Industries, 15.5.2000 Rohtak to 15.7.2002 2. Sunita Industries, Rohtak 15.8.2003 to 20.2.2006 4

7. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the

appellant would urge:

(1) From a perusal of the two certificates, it would appear, even if they

are held to be valid, the period of practical experience gained by the

respondent No.4 would be less than five years.

(2) The certificates were issued by the industries which were not existing

as no provident fund was deposited by them.

8. Mr. Manjit Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the

respondent, on the other hand, urged that from a bare perusal of the

conditions laid down for appointment to the post of Mechanist Grinder

Instructor, it would be evident that the same includes the period mentioned

at column (ii) and in view of the fact that the respondent No.4 had produced

training certificate from a recognized institute which is of two years course,

he must be held to have the requisite qualification.

So far as the second contention of Ms. Bhati is concerned, the learned

counsel urged that the same had not been raised before the High Court.

It was furthermore urged that even assuming that no provident fund

was deposited, so far as the respondent No.4 is concerned, the same would

not mean that the industries do not exist.

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9. It is now a well settled principle of law that a candidate not having the

requisite qualifications would not be entitled to be appointed in public

employment. There is no dispute that the respondent No.4 fulfills the

essential qualifications specified in clauses (i), (ii) and (iv). The third

essential qualification laid down in the advertisement is a five years

practical/teaching experience. The said period of five years, as has rightly

been pointed out, would include the period mentioned at column No.(ii),

namely, a certificate course undergone by the candidate concerned. It has

not been disputed that the said certificate course is of two years. From a

perusal of the judgment passed by the High Court, it would furthermore

appear that the respondent No.4 was an apprentice in Maruti Udyog for a

period of one year. The said period must also be counted.

It has categorically been stated before the High Court as also before us

that the Commission did not take into consideration the third certificate. We

are, therefore, not in a position to agree with the learned counsel for the

appellant that the respondent No.4 did not fulfill the requisite essential

qualifications.

So far as the second contention raised by the appellant is concerned,

admittedly, the same having not been raised before the High Court cannot be

permitted to be raised before this Court. Had such contention been raised 6

before the High Court, the respondents could have met the same. It is now

well settled that a new point should not ordinarily be allowed to be raised

before this Court for the first time.

10. In any event, non-deposit of the provident fund in terms of the

Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952

by itself does not lead to the conclusion that the establishments are

non-existing. Provident fund need to be deposited provided the said

Act applies. It may be even otherwise a violation of the provisions of

the said Act, but only by reason thereof, the certificates granted by

them would not be treated to be nullities.

11. For the reasons aforementioned, there is no merit in this appeal. It is

dismissed accordingly. However, in the facts and circumstances of

this case, there shall be no order as to costs.

............................J. [S.B. Sinha] `

.............................J. [Deepak Verma] New Delhi;

July 16, 2009