IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
WA.No. 212 of 2010()
1. SHAJI.C, CHAMATTUPARAMBIL,
... Petitioner
Vs
1. SUBASH MURALI.T.R,
... Respondent
2. PRADEEP KUMAR.M.P, MARIYIL HOUSE,
3. SHYJU.M.K, SHYJU VILLA,
4. IYPE LUKE MATHEWS, BINOY BHAVAN,
5. DHANARAJ.K.P,
6. ANILKUMAR.S.L,
7. AJITHA.V.C, VADAKKEKARA HOUSE,
8. THE DIRECTOR OF PRINTING,
9. THE DISTRICT OFFICER,
For Petitioner :SRI.KALEESWARAM RAJ
For Respondent :GOVERNMENT PLEADER
The Hon'ble MR. Justice K.BALAKRISHNAN NAIR
The Hon'ble MR. Justice P.N.RAVINDRAN
Dated :19/03/2010
O R D E R
K. BALAKRISHNAN NAIR & P.N.RAVINDRAN, JJ.
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W.A.No.212/2010
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Dated this, the 19th day of March, 2010
JUDGMENT
Balakrishnan Nair, J.
The 5th petitioner in the Writ Petition is the appellant. He
was included in the rank-list published by the Public Service
Commission for appointment to the post of Printer Grade-II in
the Government Presses in Thiruvananthapuram. The persons
included in the said rank-list are to be appointed in Letter
Presses. But, in view of the change in technology and the
machines used, printing using Letter Press has become scarce
and now offset printers are being used. Therefore, the existing
Printers Grade II in the Letter Presses are given training and
deployed to man Offset Presses, though the said persons are
working in sanctioned posts. Pointing out that there are
vacancies in the sanctioned posts, the appellant and others filed
the Writ Petition. But, the official respondents submitted that
no sufficient Letter Presses are available for accommodating the
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appointees, if the existing vacancies are reported to the Public
Service Commission. Accepting the said submission, the Writ
Petition was dismissed. Hence this appeal.
2. As directed by this Court, the Director of Printing has
filed an affidavit on 12.3.2010, in which it is stated as follows:
“3. It is respectfully submitted that a number
of Printers in the Letter Press Wing are idling for
want of sufficient work. Total number of sanctioned
posts of Printer Gr.II in Trivandrum is 82. Out of this
67 posts are lying vacant. Any further appointments
to the post of Printer Grade II in the Letter Press
Wing will only result in idling of more employees for
want of sufficient work. At present Government is
not using obsolete technology of Letter Press
Printing and the Offset Printing Machines are being
used for printing purpose. There are 54 posts of
Offset Printing Machine Operators in the Offset Wing
in the Printing Department.
4. It is humbly submitted that 94 posts of
Printer Grade II in various Government Presses are
lying vacant. Department has taken a policy
decision not to fill up such vacancies due to
insufficiency of work. Any further appointments to
the vacant posts of Printer Grade II will only create
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additional burden to the State exchequer for which
no benefits can be derived by the Government.
Hence no action has been taken to fill up the vacant
posts of Printer Grade II in the Government Presses
even though the rank list has been extended till
30.4.2010.”
In view of the above statement, the official respondents would
point out that no further vacancies could be reported to the
Public Service Commission ti fill up the vacancies in the post of
Printer Grade II.
3. The learned counsel for the appellant pointed out that
on earlier occasions also, persons working in the Letter Press
side have been deployed to the Offset Press side and the same
precedent may be followed now also. So, the learned counsel
prayed that the official respondents may be directed to report
the existing vacancies in the cadre of Printer Grade II, so that
they could be utilised for manning the Offset Presses. The
learned counsel also pointed out that sufficient posts of Printer
Grade II to man Offset Presses are yet to be sanctioned and
there is dearth of qualified hands to operate the machines.
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Those posts could be filled up by Printers on the Letter Press
side, it is submitted.
4. Rule 3(b) of Part II, Kerala State and Subordinate
Services Rules reads as follows:
“(b) The inclusion of a candidate’s name in any
list of approved candidates for any service (State or
Subordinate) or any class or category in a service,
shall not confer on him any claim to appointment to
the service, class or category.”
The well-settled principle that the candidates included in a rank-
list have no legal right to claim appointment finds statutory
expression in the above quoted Rule, as far as State and
Subordinate Services are concerned. Earlier, when Letter
Presses were being used to meet the printing requirement of the
State, sufficient posts of Printer Grade II were created. Now,
that the said technology has become obsolete and the
Government have gone for better machines and modern
technology, the vacancies in the post of Printer Grade II are not
being filled up by it. A person included in the rank-list can
claim appointment, if only the said post is filled up. In the face
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of the decision of the Government not to fill up the vacancies in
the post of Printer Grade II, as the same is unnecessary, the
claim of the appellant for advice to those vacancies cannot be
allowed.
In the result, the Writ Appeal fails and it is dismissed.
K. Balakrishnan Nair,
Judge.
P.N.Ravindran,
Judge.
nm.