The Jabalpur Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday dismissed Petition of a candidate belong to economically weaker section (EWS) category , seeking additional 10 marks for appointment on the post of Aganwadi Karyakarta.
The petitioner, Rubi Mishra is aggrieved by inaction of the Department of Women and Child Development for not granting her additional 10 marks as per the new amendment in Article 16 of the Constitution of India, which states as , “(6) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clause (4), in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of ten per cent, of the posts in each category.”
M. Shafiqullah, the Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the petitioner belongs to economically weaker section and certificate in this regard has already been issued by the Tahsildar Raghurajnagar District Satna on July 14 2020.
The petitioner made an application before the Department of Women and Child Development with necessary candidatures along with certificate dated July 14, 2020 for appointment on the post of Aganwadi Karyakarta, however, the same was not given to her. The Counsel further stated that the persons of other caste such as SC/ST categories were given the benefit of 5 marks for their caste, however, the same benefit has not been given to her.
Tapan Bathre, the Counsel for the state has pointed out that the petitioner belongs to a general category and not belongs to SC/ST or any backward class, hence additional 5 marks cannot be given to her. It is further pointed out that vide circular dated July 10 2007, 10 marks has already been granted to the persons, who are living below the poverty line. It is stated that the petitioner has already been granted 10 marks for that purpose, hence her claim cannot be considered in the petition.
A bench of Justice Nandita Dubey after hearing the arguments from both the counsels observed that “Article 16 of the Constitution, which was amended vide circular dated on July 2, 2019 clearly states that state government may prevent the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically weaker sections of citizens, however, the same has discretion of the state government.
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Since this provision has already been incorporated in the appointment of Aganwadi Karyakarta as reflected from the circular dated on July 10 2007 and the petitioner has already been granted 10 marks for belonging to economically weaker sections, the additional 5 marks granted to SC/ST category cannot be granted to the petitioner, as she belongs to general category.
Therefore, in light of above observation the Court dismissed the petition.