BHUDARBHAI HIRABHAI PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is serving as a class II officer in the Gujarat Agricultural Service class II. He is an employee of respondent No. 1 State of Gujarat and he challenges the action of the 1st respondent State in not offering him opinion to switch over to the service of Gujarat Agricultural University established by Gujarat Act No. 13 of 1960. He also alternatively contends that if the relevant provision of the said Act does not permit him to be given such Option then in that eventuality the said provision is altar vires fundamental rights guaranteed under Arts. 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India. In the aforesaid premises a writ of mandamus is sought from this court for directing the respondents who are the State of Gujarat and the Gujarat Agricultural University respectively to give the petitioner an option to opt for service in the GuJarat Agricultural University. He has also sought for a declaration that sec. 52 of the Gujarat Agricultural University Act 1969 hereinafter referred to as the Act is ultra vires Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) In order to appreciate the controversy posed for our consideration in the present proceedings it is necessary to have a glimpse of certain relevant facts leading to the present proceeding.

(3.) The petitioner joined Agricultural Department of the first respondent somewhere in the year 1960. Thereafter he continued to serve in the same Department. In 1966 he was promoted to Gujarat Agricultural Service Class II. the petitioner contends that there are about 300 officers serving in the Gujarat Agricultural Service Class II. It is the further case of the petitioner that the State Government has constituted the Gujarat Agricultural Service into various cadres known as Gujarat Agricultural Service Class I Gujarat Agricultural Service Class II Gujarat Agricultural Service Class III etc. The case of the petitioner is that all the employs belonging to Gujarat Agricultural Service Class II are similarly situated and they are transferable to various Institutions run under the control of the Directorate of Agriculture of the first respondent.