STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. BHALGHANDRA KHANDERAO JOSHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals arise out of a judgment of the Bombay High Court dated March 11, 1975, by which the High Court quashed that part of Government resolution dated January 15, 1970, which holds that the respondents Nos. 3 to 5 should not be compelled to go back to their respective lists and which gives a further option to these three respondents to indicate whether they wanted to go back to the department of History. The High Court has further held that the writ petitioners will be entitled to be considered for promotion to Class I posts in the department of Political Science and the seniority of respondents Nos. 3 to 5 will be considered in the Seniority list relating to the Department of History.

(2.) The controversy arose because of a writ petition filed by Bhalchandra Khanderao Joshi and Parmakar Siddhanath Kane. Both of them were members of the Maharashtra Educational Service, Class II (Collegiate Branch). Bhalchandra Khanderao Joshi was M. A. in Political Science as well as in History. He was appointed Lecturer in Political Science in 1958 and was confirmed in that capacity. Padmakar Siddhanath Kane passed M. A. Examination in Political Science in 1956 and was appointed Lecturer in Political Science in 1958. He was also confirmed on that post. Both of them filed a writ petition and challenged the resolution of the State Government, in the Education and Social Welfare Department, No. S. C. P. No. 1064-D dated January 15, 1970, in pursuance of which respondents Smt. K. A. Parekh, S. A. Bari and Smt. R. S. Dossal were promoted as Professors of Political Science and were given the option to opt for the History or the Political Science Department.

(3.) If may be mentioned that after the reorganisation of States, a combined seniority list was prepared on November 1, 1956, for History and Political Science teachers. In that list respondent No. 3 was shown at serial No. 3, and respondent No. 4 at serial No. 5. One S. R. Nanekar was appointed as Lecturer in Political Science on June 26, 1954. Respondents Nos . 3 and 5 were M. A. in History. It was not disputed in the High Court that Political Science was not a separate subject until 1956, in Bombay, because out of the eight papers for post-graduation in History, four were in Political Science. Smt. K. A. Parekh was M. A. in History and was recruited as Lecturer on August 5, 1946. She however taught both History and Political Science upto 1963, when she was appointed officiating Professor of Political Science on February 27, 1963. Dr. S. R. Bari was recruited as Lecturer in History on October 1, 1947. He was thereafter promoted as Professor in that subject. Smt. M. G. Sonnal, who was M. A. in History, was appointed as Professor of Political Science. Smt. R. S. Dossal was recruited as Assistant Lecturer in History on August 5, 1946, and taught both History and Political Science upto 1956. Thereafter she taught only Political Science, and was promoted as Professor in that subject in 1968. She was confirmed in that capacity in 1972. These facts are quite sufficient for purposes of the present appeals.