Courts says, “as the similarly situated persons have already been discontinued, no case of discrimination is made out in favour of the petitioners”
Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed a petition filed by two former Watershed Development Team (WDT) Members, holding that they could not claim discrimination when other persons appointed to the same posts had also been discontinued after completing five years of service.
Justice Anand Sharma passed the order on a petition filed by Ramakant Sharma and Shyam Pratap Singh, who had challenged the termination of their services.
The petitioners argued that they were removed for not having the required engineering qualification, even though the State Government had relaxed the requirement of a civil or agricultural engineering degree in February 2008. On this ground the petitioners contended that their services could not have been terminated by treating them as unqualified.
The Court than sought details from the State about the tenure of WDT Members and whether other persons appointed around the same time were still working.
The State upon which through an additional affidavit, clarified that all WDT Members appointed during the relevant period had also been discontinued after completing five years of service.
The Court after examining all the records place before it found that no unequal treatment is being exercise. Court also observed that when similarly situated persons had also been discontinued, the petitioners could not make out a case of discrimination.
Court observed that, “if the same rule is applied to everyone in the same situation, a person cannot claim discrimination merely because the rule works against them.”
The Court accordingly held that “no case of discrimination is made out in favour of the petitioners” and dismissed the petition.