NARAYAN SHARMA Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is seeking issuance of writ of quo warranto and has prayed for setting aside the order dated 11 -7 -2012(Annexure - P/10) by which the tenure of the respondent No. 3 as Deputy Labour Commissioner (for short 'DLC') has been extended for a further period of two years.

(2.) THE challenge has been thrown on the ground that the respondent No. 3 is an usurper of the office of the DLC because under the Chhattisgarh Labour (Gazetted) Service Rules, 1985(for short 'the Rules, 1985'), Schedule II, the office of the DLC in the Department of Labour, Government of Chhattisgarh is to be filled up 100% by way of promotion, however, in special cases the said office can be filled up by deputation or transfer from other departments, however, the respondent No. 3 is not an employee of any other department of the State Government.

(3.) PER contra, Shri Sharma, learned counsel for the respondent No. 3, would submit that Dugdh Sangh is a department of Government, therefore, neither the initial appointment nor the extension of the respondent No. 3 is contrary to the Rules. Learned counsel would submit that the petitioner is wrecking vengeance and is settling personal scores with the respondent No. 3 because the petitioner being a journalist, was issuing false and malicious news item concerning the respondent No. 3 and two Hon'ble Ministers of the State Government vide Annexure - P/5 for which the respondent No. 3 lodged the First Information Report (FIR) against him. Learned counsel would also submit that the petitioner was aware of the initial appointment of the respondent No. 3, which was made in the year 2010, yet the writ petition has been filed in the year 2014 and, as such, it suffers from delay and laches. Learned counsel placed reliance upon the decisions rendered by the Supreme Court in The U.P. State Electricity Board and Another v. Hari Shankar Jain and Others : (1978) 4 SCC 16, Deoraj v. State of Maharashtra and Others : (2004) 4 SCC 697, B. Srinivasa Reddy v. Karnataka Urban Water Supply & Drainage Board Employees' Assn. and Others : (2006) 11 SCC 731 (II) and Arun Kumar Agrawal v. Union of India and Others : (2014) 2 SCC 609.