KAMAL SINGH VERMA Vs. STATE OF UTTARANCHAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SINCE a common question arises in these writ petitions, they were heard together and are being disposed of through this common judgement.

(2.) THE petitioners in these. writ petitions are Junior Engineers working in the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of different districts in the State of Uttaranchal. The petitioner in Writ Petition No. 198 of 2003 (S/B) is working as Junior Engineer In tile DRDA of Nainital District. The petitioner In Writ Petition No. 204 of 2003 (S/B) is working as Junior Engineer in the DRDA of Almora District. The petitioner in Writ Petition No. 207 of 2003 (S/B) is working as Junior Engineer in the DRDA of Uttarkashi District.

(3.) ACCORDING to the petitioners, the Junior Engineers In the DRDA are entitled to be promoted to the cadre of Assistant Engineers. In fact, the petitioners were promoted to the cadre of Assistant Engineers along with 17 other Junior Engineers as per an order dated 07 -04 -2000 passed by the Government of U.P. prior to the creation of the State of Uttaranchal. But those promoters were stayed by the High Court of Allahabad on 10 -04 -2000 in Writ Petition No. 458 of 2000 (S/B) filed by one Anoop Rai Jain and five others. In the said order dated 10 -04 -2000, the High Court of Allahabad directed that the Junior Engineers promoted as per the impugned order shall not be allowed to join as Assistant Engineers. Consequently, the promotions of the petitioners were not given effect to. Thereafter, the new State of Uttaranchal was created on 09 -11 -2000. At that time, the petitioners were working in the districts included in the State of Uttaranchal. The grievance of the petitioners Is that even though they are the senior most Junior Engineers in the DRDA of the district in which they are working and vacancies of Assistant Engineers are in existence and the petitioners are discharging the functions of Assistant Engineers, they are not being promoted to the cadre of Assistant Engineer on account of the interim order passed by the High Court of Allahabad in Writ Petition No. 458 of 2000 (S/B). According to the petitioners, the said order passed by the High Court of Allahabad cannot any more stand in the way of the promotion of the petitioners as Assistant Engineers.