C/SCA/8599/2017 ORDER DATED: 16/07/2025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 8599 of 2017 With CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR DIRECTION) NO. 1 of 2017 In R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 8599 of 2017 ========================================================== BHAVIN VISHUBHAI PATEL & ORS. Versus STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR. ========================================================== Appearance: MS SHEEJA G NAYAR(5458) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1,2,3 MS KRISHNA D DESAI, AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 1 MR HS MUNSHAW(495) for the Respondent(s) No. 2 ========================================================== CORAM:HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.S.SANJAY GOWDA Date : 16/07/2025 ORAL ORDER 1. The petition is filed for seeking for a declaration that the action of the respondents in not selecting the petitioners to the post of Gram Sevak (Class-III) pursuant to the advertisement dated 24.11.2016 was bad in law. 2. A reply is filed by the Panchayat. in which it is stated as follows:- “2. The respnt. no.2 submits that an advertisement was published for recruitment in the cadre of Gram Sevak and a copy of the advertisement is annexed as ANNEXURE-A. The respondent No.2 submits that the petitioners herein applied in response to that as open category candidates. It is submitted that in all 42 posts were to be filled up as per the advertisements but due to non-availability of candidates belonging to Schedule Tribe it was not possible to fill up two posts and accordingly it redus to 40 posts. The respnt. Authority was required to fill up the rest of the posts as under: C/SCA/8599/2017 ORDER DATED: 16/07/2025 Category Male Female Open 17 9 S.E.B.C. 07 4 S.C. 02 1 It is submitted that subsequent to a competitive examination petitioners herein found their names in the provisional merit list on the basis of their merits as under: Petitioner No.1 29.40 Petitioner No.2 28.90 Petitioner No.3 29.80 It is submitted that the petitioners and other candidates who were on provisional merit list were called for the verification of their marksheets, certificates and other record on 18.3.17 and 28.3.17 and thereafter a select list was prepared and a copy thereof is annexed as ANNEXURE-B. From a kind perusal thereof it would be crystal clear that the last selected male candidate belonging to open category has secured 31.8 marks but as the petitioners have secured lesser marks they were not on select list. 3. It is submitted that thereafter appointment orders were issued in favour of in all 36 selected candidates and all of them have joined their service. It is further stated that 4 posts are kept vacant due to interim relief order passed in Special Civil Application No.6953/17 and a copy of the order is annexed as ANNEXURE-C.” 3. As could be seen from the reply, the Panchayat has stated that the petitioners were on the provisional merit list and they could not make the select list because the last candidate who was eligible and secured 31.8 marks was put on the select list. In other words, it is the case of the Panchayat that the petitioners did not possess the requisite merits to be appointed. 4. However, it is also noticed that as a consequence of the interim order passed in Special Civil Application No.6953 of 2017, four posts C/SCA/8599/2017 ORDER DATED: 16/07/2025 were kept vacant. 5. It is also forthcoming from the record that the said Special Civil Application No.6953 of 2017 has been dismissed by the order of this Court dated 23.2.2018. 6. In light of the dismissal of the said petition and the fact that four posts were kept vacant, it would be appropriate to permit the petitioners to submit a representation requesting that their cases be considered for being appointed if they are otherwise eligible on merits. 7. It is made clear that if the four posts are not filled up by virtue of the interim order and the petitioners are the next most meritorious candidates eligible for selection, their cases will be considered in accordance with law. 8. It is made clear that if there are other candidates who are more meritorious than the petitioners, it is obvious that the petitioners will not be entitled to claim their appointment. 9. With the aforesaid observations and directions, the present petition stands DISPOSED OF. Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid extent. Pending Civil Application also stands DISPOSED OF. Sd/- (NSSG,J) OMKAR Original copy of this order has been signed by the Hon'ble Judge. Digitally signed by: OMKAR CHHAGANLAL MAHAWAR(HC00201), PRINCIPAL PRIVATE SECRETARY, at High Court of Gujarat on 16/07/2025 18:01:56