Investigation Proves Authenticity of Certificates, Rajasthan High Court Reverses Safai Karamcharis’ Termination

A single bench of Justice Sudesh Bansal, hearing the batch of petitions, observed that the Safaikaramcharis, whose appointment was canceled on the allegation that they had submitted fake certificates before the authorities, should be allowed to continue in service counting their service from the date of appointment with all ancillary benefits. The court ruled that because the investigation showed the opposite of the allegations, the dismissal orders remained invalid.

Background

The appointment of the petitioners to the post of Safai Karamchari was canceled by the termination orders issued by the Executive Officer, Nagar Palika Kekri, on the ground of non-verification of their experience certificates. After submitting their certificates of one year experience as required, they were appointed as Safai Karamchari as per the procedure of Rajasthan Safai Karamchari Service Rules 2012. The defendants alleged that the certificates provided by the plaintiffs were fake, following which a notice was issued against the plaintiffs by Nagar Palika. They were asked to check the certificates within 15 days. Their appointment was revoked on the grounds that the evidence provided by them to verify the authenticity of the certificates was insufficient.

Several Writ Petitions were filed before the Division Bench of the High Court challenging the appointment of the petitioners on many grounds including irregularity/illegality in adopting lottery system for selection, appointment of ineligible candidates on the ground of having more than two children after the cut off. date, encroachment by candidates belonging to the reserved category to the seats of general category candidates and submission of false and forged experience certificates etc. The court partially granted the petition and ruled that

“Respondents should also ensure that the names of ineligible candidates or those who have made false declarations have been properly deleted in accordance with the law; it depends on the final outcome of the proceedings initiated by such candidates.”

The court also ruled

“In the case of the candidates whose names were removed, it is known that many of them have gone to court. Their names will be considered according to the court’s final decision in their cases.”

Another writ petition was filed by some private respondents challenging the appointment of ineligible candidates to the post of Safai Karamchari by the Nagar Palika. It was also revoked, reiterating the above observations.

Later, on 03.02.2022, a general meeting of the Municipal Council, Kekri was convened and a detailed inquiry was conducted into the authenticity and genuineness of the certificates submitted by the applicants. The petitioners’ counsel argued before the single judge bench that the certificates of the candidates selected for the post of Safai Karamchari were properly verified after enquiry.

The present petitions before the Single Bench were mainly on the issue of verification/non-verification of experience certificates of the applicants’ appointments whose appointments were earlier canceled on the allegation of furnishing fake certificates, which were later proved to the contrary.

Since the case of the petitioners was pending before the court, they were not allowed to continue in service while the other appointees were already serving.

Plaintiffs’ counsel sought to set aside and quash the orders of termination in a single-judge panel because the authenticity of the documents had been verified during the investigation.

Conclusions of the court:

The court held that the plaintiffs were appointed Safai Karamchari by the Municipal Council, Kekri and the appointment was made in accordance with the statutory rules, 2012 (as amended). The appointment was canceled due to allegations of forgery. The municipal council later observed that the experience certificates submitted by the applicants were genuine and valid. The other appointees were allowed to continue their services as they were not involved in the court cases, but the plaintiffs could not be allowed due to pending litigation in the courts. The Court held that the Coordinating Board had already decided the validity of the experience certificates of the petitioners under the Rules, 2012 on merits in another writ petition and the same would apply to the case of the petitioners.

Observing that there was no dispute between the petitioners and the Municipal Board, Kekri, Ajmer, the court held that the stop work orders were liable to be set aside.

While making these observations, the Court reiterated that the services of the petitioners should be treated continuously from the date of their respective order of appointment and all relevant financial benefits should be given to the petitioners.

Accordingly, the claims were dismissed.

Case Title: Pawan Lakhan vs. State of Rajasthan and Ors

The plaintiff’s lawyer: Mr. M. AND. Abbasi Mr. Sudarshan Kumar Laddha

Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Neeraj Batra, GC Mr. Mahnedra Shah Sr. Adv. assisted by Mr. Kamlesh Sharma Mr. Nakul Bansal Ms. Gunjan Chawla Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh

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