AJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These writ petitions under Article 32of the Constitution questioned the validity of the orders dispensing with service of each of the petitioner with immediate effect made by the Director, Local Government, Punjab dated September 25. 1980, as being violative of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution.

(2.) The Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922 ('Act' for short) was enacted to make provision for the improvement and expansion of towns in Punjab. The Act envisages the creation and constitution of Trusts and the Trusts so created will have a corporate personality with perpetual succession and a common seal. The duties and functions of the Trust inter alia include preparing of schemes under the Act for various purposes. Section 17 conferred power on the State Government to constitute certain services in the manner therein prescribed. One such service contemplated by the section was Punjab Service of Trust Executive Officers. Sub-section (2) of Section 17 conferred power on the State Government to make rules for regulating the recruitment and the conditions of service of members of the Trust Services constituted by the State Government. Armed with this power, the State Government constituted Punjab Service of Trust Executive Officers. In exercise of the power conferred by Section 73 read with Section 17(2) of the Act, the State Government framed rules styled as Punjab Trust Services (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1978 ('Rules' for short). Rule 5(2) (i) inter alia provided that fifty per cent of the vacancies in the cadre of Executive Officers shall be filled by direct recruitment and for this purpose Rule 5 (4) envisaged the setting up of a Selection Committee called Punjab Trust Services Selection Committee.

(3.) In the year 1978, Directorate of Local Government, Punjab issued advertisment No. 1078 inviting applications for the posts in Class I, II and III of Trust Executive Officers. Pursuant to this advertisement, large number of persons applied for various posts. The Punjab Trust Services Selection Committee interviewed various candidates and ultimately recommended eleven persons for the post of Trust Executive Officers. Ajit Singh and Rajinder Singh were recommended for Class I post; S. Sarup Singh and R. L. Bhagat were recommended for Class II post of Trust Executive Officer and the remaining 7 petitioners in this group of petitions were recommended for Class III post of Trust Executive Officers. These recommendations were accepted and appointment orders were issued by Punjab Government on May 28, 1979, and it is not in dispute that all the appointees joined the respective posts. Each one of the appointees was issued an order of appointment to which terms and conditions of appointment were annexed. One such condition worth-noticing reads as under: