N C DABHI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A question of some importanCe as to how the seniority of transferred Government servants to the Panchayat Service is to be determined has arisen in this petition. The question arises in the following circumstances:

(2.) The petitioners joined the services of the State of Gujarat on various dates between 1961 and 1964. They Were appointed after interview and necessary test by the District Screening Committee by the State Government. The petitioners have also undergone training prior to the service or while they were in service. They were all appointed in the Revenue Department in Mehsana District. It appears that as a result of the decision of the State Government to close down Civil Supplies Section which was a part of the Revenue Department the staff working in Civil Supplies Section was required to go back to their parent Department namely the Revenue Department. There arose a likelihood of the petitioners being treated as surplus and consequently the retrenchment. The State Government had under its Memorandum of May 29 196 which is Annexure C to the petition instructed the Collector Mehsana in reply to the letter of the Collector of May 15 1968 that such of the Government servants who are surplus and likely to be retrenched as a result of the closure of Civil Supplies Section in the Revenue Department be absorbed in the other offices of the Revenue Department of Mehsana District and in case after such absorption if there are surplus servants appropriate proceedings should initiated for absorbing them in the offices of Collectors of adjoining districts of Sabarkantha Ahmedabad and Banaskantha. It appears further that the State Government in its Panchayats and Health Department issued a Circular of July 4 1968 which is Annexure B to the petition that the services of the State servants who are likely to be retrenched and who are willing to go to the Panchayat Service should be transferred to the Panchayat Services and the post falling vacant in the latter Services as a result of the return of the staff on deputation be filled in by such surplus staff so that the Government can avoid a situation of retrenching the Government servants who had put in service of 6-7 years and at the same time filling in the vacant posts in Panchayat Service by direct recruitment. The State Government therefore under the said Circular directed that such surplus staff should be transferred to the Panchayat Service under sec. 205(3) of the Gujarat Panchayats Act 1961 Accordingly the Collector Mehsana by his order of May 29 1968 purporting to act under sec. 205(3) of the Gujarat Panchayats Act 1961 ordered transfers of as many as 25 Government servants who had become surplus in the Revenue Department of the district to the service of Mehsana District Panchayat with effect from the date of their release. The said order further clarified that the terms and conditions of the services of the said servants in the Panchayat Service would be governed by the Rules made under the relevant sections of the aforesaid Act. It is common ground that all the petitioners are transferred by this order to the Services of Mehsana District Panchayat. The petitioners claim that they were not retrenched in fact nor they were likely to be retrenched. They also claim that their services were transferred to the Panchayat Service in the interest of the Panchayats and not by way of any ex gratia relief against the apprehended retrenchment. It appears that a question arose about the fixation of seniority of the surplus staff transferred to the Panchayat Service and therefore the State Government by its resolution passed in Panchayats & Health Department of May 2 1971 directed that the Government servants transferred to the Panchayat Service for any reason under sec. 205(3) of the Gujarat Panchayats Act would not be entitled for purposes of fixation of their seniority to claim the services which they had put in with the State Government and their services will be reckoned for purpose of fixation of seniority from the dates of their entry in the Panchayat Service. The petitioners therefore made a representation to the State Government on June 12 1971 contending that the aforesaid Government resolution of May 2 1971 which is Annexure E to the petition did not apply to them because they were not transferred on the ground of sympathy but were transferred in the interest of Panchayat Service and they had put in long service under the State Government and were entitled to count the same for purposes of seniority. This representation of the petitioners had been turned down by the State Government and the petitioners received an intimation to that effect in or about December 1971 The petitioners have therefore moved this Courts for appropriate writs orders and directions to quash and set aside the aforesaid Government resolution and to compel the State Government to consider the services put in by the petitioners while they were in the State Government Service for purposes of fixing their seniority in the Panchayat Service.

(3.) This petition has been resisted by the respondents and the affidavit of one Shri P. N. Parmar who happened to be District Development Officer Mehsana at the relevant time has been filed in reply to the petition contending inter alia that with a view to accommodate the petitioners who were on the list of surplus staff the concerned District Panchayats agreed to take them in the Panchayat Service even though selected persons were available for the establishment of the District Panchayat and therefore the petitioners have been transferred under the provisions of sec. 205(3) of the Gujarat Panchayats Act 1961 on their exercising the option in the form appended to the aforesaid Government Circular of July 4 1968 in the matter of transfer of surplus staff The petitioners according to the affidavit in reply of the District Development Officer have exercised their volition to opt for the Panchayat Service for good by being transferred under sec. 205(3) of the said Act and subject to the Rules that may be framed in that behalf under sec. 203 thereof and have also agreed as stated in their options to sever their connection with the State Government Services with effect from their date of transfer to the Panchayat Service. In other words the respondents contend that the petitioners have been transferred under sec. 205(3) and are not allocated under sec. 206(1) of the aforesaid Act to the Panchayat Service on their request which they expressed in the options which they have made by agreeing to opt for the Services of the Panchayat for good and severing their connection with the State Government Services. It is in this context of the rival contentions that I have been called upon to examine the legality of the impugned Government resolution of May 2 1971 where it has been directed by the State Government that for purposes of fixation of the seniority of such transferred Government servants their earlier services in the State Government would not be considered and their services would considered only from the date of their joining the Panchayat Service.