J S VIRK Vs. R D PRADHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in CCP 82/86 and 176/86 came to this court with the complaint that the respondents have failed to implement the judgment of this court in C.W. 44/75 dated 2.9. 1985 and that they should be directed to do so forthwith. There have been some developments since the filing of CCP 82/86 and, before referring to these developments and examining how well-founded the petitioners' grievances are, it is necessary to give a brief resume of some salient facts of the controversy C.W. 44/45.

(2.) The writ petition raised a question of seniority among Company Commanders in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The hierarchy of posts in the service relevant for our consideration is as follows with Commandants at the top and Compnay Commanders at the bottom :

(3.) Now the dispute regarding seniority arose at the lowest level, viz., that of CCs and was a simple one. Recruitments to this post was made from two sources-one, which can be briefly described as direct recruits (though it included recruits from the police and certain other para-military forces) and other, ex-army personnel (ECOs & SECOs and the the short question was whether persons recruited from the second source were entitled in computing their seniority, to count in the length of their service in the army. This benefit they were denied. They came to this court as early as 1975 for a solution to this problem and, after certain vicissitudes which the litigation suffered and which it is unnecessary to refer to now they were able to get, by a judgment of this court dated 2.9.1985, an affirmative answer to the above question. Now, the question is the follow-up action which the respondents are bound to take to implement the above judgment.