MUSTAFHA ROWTHER Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who retired as Regional Joint Director of Municipalities on 30-9-1979 after having put in 23 years of service, mainly prays that this Court may be pleased to call for the records leading to Exts. P3 and P5 orders and quash the same by issuing a writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ or order and also declare that he is entitled to the benefit conferred under R.25(a) of Part III of K. S. R. It was while the petitioner was practising as a lawyer at the Munsiff's Court, Thiruvalla that he was recruited as Municipal Commissioner by the Travancore-Cochin Public Service Commission.

(2.) Admittedly the conditions of service of the petitioner are governed by the Kerala Service Rules. The petitioner contends that by virtue of R.25(a) of Part III of the K. S. R. he is entitled to get added to his service qualifying for superannuation pension a period of 5 years. The petitioner made various representations to the concerned authorities. One such representation is Ext. P2 to which the petitioner received a reply Ext. P3 stating that since experience at the Bar was not prescribed as a qualification for appointment to the post of Municipal Commissioner, the request to count the service spent by the petitioner at the Bar was not admissible. Again the petitioner made a similar representation to the third respondent for reconsideration of Ext. P3. That also was rejected as per Ext. P5 dated 27-9-1979.

(3.) That the petitioner was directly recruited from the Bar as Municipal Commissioner by the Travancore-Cochin Public Service Commission, and he joined service as such on 26-10-1956, is not a fact in dispute. The stand taken by the counsel appearing for the Government is that the Government had occasion to interpret and construe the meaning of the words "persons recruited from the bar" appearing in R.25(a) in this regard and by reason of the Government decision No. 2 to this rule, the petitioner is not entitled to get added five years of his standing at the bar to his service qualifying for superannuation pension.