ALL IND. NATIONAL HYDROELECTRIC POWER CORP. DIPLOMA ENG. COUNCIL AND ANOTHER Vs. NATIONAL HYDROELECTRIC POWER CORPORATION LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioners seek for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to issue the seniority list of the various Junior Engineers Grade II working with the respondent No. 1 in various projects and also for a direction to the respondents to compute the period for which the members of petitioner No. 1 and petitioners No. 2 and 3 have worked on ad hoc basis, continuously without any break, for the purpose of computation of the length of service/seniority and consequently to give them promotion to the next grade i.e. from Grade II to Grade I. The petitioners state that the actions of the respondents in not giving the benefit for the period during which the members of the petitioner No. 1 and the petitioners No. 2 and 3 were continuously working on ad hoc basis on the post of Junior Engineers, that is, from the date of their initial appointment till the date of regularisation during which they had worked continuously and without any break, discharging the same duties as the other regular employees and drawing the same pay scale as that of the said regular employees is violative of the provisions of principles laid down by the Supreme Court as also violative of the provisions of Articles 14, 16, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The petitioner No. 1 is a registered society and has as its members Diploma Holder Engineers working with respondent No. 1 Corporation. The petitioner No. 1 has preferred the present writ petition in the representative capacity of the said Diploma Holder Engineers working with respondent No. 1 whereas the petitioners No. 2 and 3 are Junior Engineers working with respondent Corporation. During the period between 1984-85 the respondent corporation recruited amongst others 20 Junior Engineers including the petitioners No. 2 and 3 through Employment Exchange. In pursuance of a request made by respondent No. 1 the Employment Exchange sent the names of eligible Diploma Holder Engineers registered with them including the names of respondents No. 2 and 3 to be appointed to the post of Junior Engineer Grade II in they pay scale of Rs. 420-800. After their names were sponsored by the Employment Exchange the petitioners No. 2 and 3 alongwith the other eligible candidates were asked to undergo the selection process including the viva voce test in which the petitioners No. 2 and 3 about 18 others were declared successful and were appointed against the posts of Junior Engineers Garde II. However, the dates of appointment of the petitioners No. 2 and 3 and the other 18 persons were different. It was mentioned in the appointment letter that the selected candidates would be appointed to the post of Junior Engineers on ad hoc basis for a period of six months initially which might be subsequently continued. After having been appointed thus the petitioner No. 2 and 3 and the members of petitioner No. 1 numbering about 18 for whose cause this petition has been preferred were given extensions and were kept in employment continuously till they were regularised in service by respondent No. 1. It is stated that these persons appointed to the post of Junior Engineer Grade II discharged the same duties as that of regular employees and were also drawing the same salaries and other benefits as were being given to the regular employes of the Corporation. It has been specifically averred in the writ petition by the petitioners that while the petitioners were thus working the respondent corporation appointed few persons on regular basis to the post of Junior Engineers Grade II but through the same selection process as was followed in the case of petitioners. Those candidates were appointed to the post of Junior Engineer Grade II on regular basis after the names of the eligible candidates were called for from the Employment Exchange and after they had undergone the same selection process as that of the petitioners.

(3.) In view of an agitation amongst the employees of the respondent Corporation an agreement was arrived at between the petitioner No. 1 and respondent No. 1 whereunder the respondent No. 1 agreed to regularise the services of ad hoc Junior Engineers. The aforesaid Memorandum was reached on 25.11.1986. It was agreed that all ad hoc Supervisors working at the projects would be considered for appointment on the regular basis on the existing scales of pay on the basis of seniority-cum-fitness subject to vacancies as might come up from time to time. It was further stipulated that till such time they are appointed on regular cadre they will continue in service as Junior Engineer Grade II. Subsequent to the aforesaid agreement arrived at between petitioner No.1 and respondent No. 1 the services of the members of petitioner No. 1 and the petitioners No. 2 and 3 were regularised without undergoing any further process of selection. However, as no seniority list was published and as no benefit of the period served by the members of petitioner No. 1 and petitioners No. 2 and 3 as ad hoc Junior Engineer Grade II was given for the purpose of computation of their seniority and promotion, the present writ petition has been preferred.