R NIRMALA DEVI Vs. VICE-CHANCELLOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant and the writ petitioner joined as Junior Assistants in the newly formed Pondicherry University. Their request for change of cadre was turned down, and so they have approached this Court. C. Balakrishnan (appellant in W.A. No. 359 of 2005) is a Graduate in Chemistry, while R. Nirmala Devi (petitioner in W.P. No. 5359 of 2000) is a Graduate in Zoology. Since the issue involved in both these cases is common, the writ petition is tagged along with the writ appeal. For the sake of convenience, the appellant in the writ appeal will also referred to as petitioner, which is his rank in the writ petition.

(2.) On 1.7.1987, the Science Department of the Pondicherry University was taken over from JIPMER. The petitioners were appointed as Junior Assistants originally were promoted on transfer as Lab Technicians in the scale Rs. 1320-2040. Their probation was declared. Their designation is that of a Lab Technician. Their grievance is that though they were designated as Lab Technician, they were all along on the Administrative Side and they have been denied promotion on the Administrative Side to Senior Assistant and upwards. According to them, the denial of their legitimate right to promotion and the consequent stagnation in one post is unfair and unreasonable.

(3.) In the order challenged in the writ appeal, the learned single Judge held that the appointment of the appellant to the cadre of Lab Technician was by way of promotion and his probation was declared as Lab Technician and thereafter, he cannot continue to be a member in the cadre of Junior Assistant merely because in 1993 his name was found in the seniority list of Junior Assistants, since even as early as on 23.9.1991, there was a request for a change of cadre and that was rejected, and it has become final and he cannot take advantage of what is essentially a consequential order to revive his cause of action.