B JUSTIN IMMANUEL Vs. N SURESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN these two writ petitions, the petitioners are aggrieved against the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal dated 05.09.2001 passed in O.A.No.1184 of 2000 preferred by the contesting respondents 1 to 5. The challenge in the said Original Application was to an order dated 09.11.2000 of the sixth respondent and for a direction to the sixth respondent to count the seniority of the contesting respondents in the post of Lighting Assistant with effect from their first date of appointment and consider the first respondent for regularisation with effect from the date on which his immediate junior namely the second respondent was regularised, i.e. on 19.11.1994 and respondents 2 to 5 for regularisation with effect from the date on which their immediate juniors namely the petitioners herein were regularised, i.e. 03.09.1997 with all consequential benefits.

(2.) THE facts relating to the respective date of joining of the petitioners and respondents 1 to 5 have been set out in detail in the impugned order of the Tribunal and therefore, we are not stating those details in this order. THE common facts are that the petitioners and respondents 1 to 5 joined Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai between 1977 and 1986 on different dates as Casual Artists (Lighting Assistants). THEy were claiming for regularisation of their services in the post of Lighting Assistants. THE claim of the Casual Artists was considered by the sixth respondent and by an Office Memorandum dated 09.06.1992, a Scheme of Regularisation was announced stipulating certain conditions under which such regularisation would take place. A subsequent Office Memorandum was also issued on 10.06.1992 by the sixth respondent, by which other guidelines were issued for implementing the Scheme of regularisation. THEreafter, when doubts were raised by the various Doordarshan Kendras, the same was clarified by the sixth respondent in its subsequent Office Memorandum dated 01.09.1992. THEreafter, all the eligible Casual Artists in the Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai were listed out based on their respective dates of eligibility. THE names of 16 individuals were set out in the said list dated 20.10.1992. THE names of the petitioners in W.P.No.20186 of 2001 appeared in S.Nos.3 to 7 and 9 in the said list, while the name of the petitioner in W.P.No.19641 of 2001 appeared in S.No.2 of the said list. Virtually, the said list dated 20.10.1992 was construed as the seniority list of all the Casual Lighting Assistants whose services came to be regularised pursuant to the Regularisation Scheme dated 09.06.1992 and the guidelines dated 10.06.1992.

(3.) MR.Selvan Babu, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in W.P.No.20186 of 2001 contended that the Original Application ought to have been dismissed by the Tribunal on the ground of delay and that in any event, the Tribunal ought not to have followed the Principal Bench ruling in O.A.No.2484 of 1993 dated 14.07.1999, but should have held that the seniority can be reckoned only from the dates which were set out in the seniority list dated 20.10.1992.