PRATAP SINGH Vs. UNION TERRITORY OF CHANDIGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the Writ Petition filed by the appellant against the order of his termination passed by the Senior Superintendent of Police. The appellant was appointed on 2-7-1973 as a temporary Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police. On 26-9-1977, his services were terminated by the Senior Superintendent of Police. Against this order, the appellant moved the High Court of Punjab and Haryana but his petition was rejected. Thereafter, he came to this Court and after obtaining special leave from this court, the appeal has been placed before us for hearing.

(2.) The short point taken by the appellant in this appeal is that under Rule 12.8 (1) of Punjab Police Rules, the petitioner must be considered to be on probation for a period of three years and as the appellant has crossed this period of three years, he must be deemed to have been confirmed and, therefore, his services could not be terminated. In support of this submission, reliance is placed by the appellant on a Division Bench Judgment of this Court in case of the Superintendent of Police. Ludhiana v. Dwarka Das AIR 1979 SC 336 where Shinghal J. speaking for the court observed as follows :-

(3.) It is true that the observations made by this Court support the contention of the appellant to an extent. But in our opinion, the Division Bench decision was not correctly decided as it has not considered the Five Bench decision of this Court in case of State of Punjab v. Dharam Singh (1968) 3 SCR 1 at pp. 4 and 5 where, after considering a number of cases, the Court observed thus :