V M PANCHOLI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE genesis of the writ petitions is in the order dated 3rd May 2005 passed by the Division Bench of this Court {coram: G. S. Singhvi [as His Lordship then was} and A. S. Dave, JJ. ] in Letters Patent Appeal No. 1042 of 1994 in Special Civil Application No. 4554 of 1983, by which, the appeal preferred by the appellants and the petitioners herein came to be dismissed and other Special Civil Application Nos. 8058 of 1998 and 8059 of 1998 came to be allowed by quashing and setting aside the order dated 31st August 1998 passed by the concerned Authority of the State of Gujarat terminating the service of the appellants. Letters Patent Appeal No. 1042 of 1994 and Special Civil Application Nos. 8058 of 1998 and 8059 of 1998 came to be clubbed together in view of the cause of action which had arisen being common in as much as Letters Patent Appeal No. 1042 of 1994, which was preferred against Special Civil Application No. 4554 of 1983 by the aggrieved Assistants of the Legal Department of the State of Gujarat against the grant of promotions to the present petitioners [private respondents in the writ petition], came to be allowed by the learned Single Judge of this Court [coram: S. K. Keshote, J. ] by judgment and order dated 27th July 1998 and in the operative portion, paragraphs 64, 65 and 66, the learned Single Judge has observed as under:

(2.) PURSUANT to the above order of the learned Single Judge of this Court, the Secretary, Legal Department of the State of Gujarat passed order dated 31st August 1998 to comply with the afore-mentioned directions of the learned Single Judge and, ultimately, terminated their services after adjusting seniority inter-se on respective posts. The above order was the subject matter of challenge in Special Civil Application Nos. 8058 and 8059 of 1998 and allied matters along with Letters Patent Appeal No. 1042 of 1994 wherein the petitioners challenged the direction of the learned Single Judge in Special Civil Application No. 4554 of 1993 by judgment and order dated 27th July 1998.

(3.) WHEN the appeal came up for final hearing, the Division Bench of this Court, while dismissing Letters Patent Appeal No. 1042 of 1998, against the judgment and order dated 27th July 1998 in Special Civil Application No. 4554 of 1983, allowed the Special Civil Applications filed by the petitioners against the order dated 31st August 1998 of terminating their services under the guise of compliance of directions contained in the above order of the learned Single Judge, and observed as under: