CHHANGOO RAM Vs. STATE PUBLIC SERVICES TRIBUNAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition is directed against the order dated 19-9-1978 passed by the U. P. Public Services Tribunal, Lucknow. The Tribunal had declared that the Government order contained in Annexure-1 to the instant writ petition was hit by the provision contained in the Subordinate Forest Service Rules and the Forest Manual and it could not be given effect to. Deb Singh and Rajendra Singh Chauhan had filed a claim petition under section 4 of the U. P. Public Services Tribunal, Lucknow. They are employed as Foresters in the U. P. Subordinate Forest Service. The Government order dated 20-9-1976 was issued marging the cadre of Range Clerks with the cadre of the Foresters and dealing with the promotion of the Range Clerks to higher posts. The validity of this Government order was challenged by Deb Singh and others in the said claim petition and it was prayed that the Tribunal should quash the said Government order and direct the State Government not to enforce it. The Tribunal allowed the claim petition and declared that the said Government order is hit by the provision contained in the Subordinate Forest Service Rules and Forest Manual and could not be given effect to. The petitioners who are Range Clerks in the Forest Department have challenged this order of the Tribunal. No counter affidavit has been filed by the State Public Services Tribunal and the State Government and the Chief Conservator of Forests but the counter affidavit has been filed by Rajendra Singh Chauhan.

(2.) THE learned counsel for the petitioners submitted at the out set that the claim petition filed by Deb Singh and Rajendra Singh Chauhan, the opposite parties 2 and 3 in the instant writ petition was not in conformity with the rules framed under U. P. Public Services Tribunal Act and was, therefore, not tenable. I find force in this contention. Rule 18 of the U. P. Public Services Tribunal Rules, 1976, requires that every petition filed before the Tribunal should contain the name, address, designation and the present place of posting of the claimant as well as of Public Servants who are likely to be adversely affected by any order that may be passed by the Tribunal. THE Government Order impugned before the Tribunal undoubtedly affected the present petitioners who are Range Clerk in the Forest Department. THEy were, however, not impleaded as opposite parties in the claim petition filed before the Tribunal though they were necessary parties. Deb Singh and Rajendra Singh Chauhan the claimants before the Tribunal had impleaded only the State of U. P. and the Chief Conservator of Forests. A large number of Range Clerks who were directly affected by the said Government order were not at all impleaded and in their absence the Tribunal has declared that the said Government order is violative of the rules of the Subordinate Forest Service Rules and the Forest Manual and that it could not be given effect to. THE said declaration having been made in the absence of those persons who are directly affected by the same cannot be sustained. It was necessary for Deb Singh and Rajendra Singh Chauhan to implead all the Range Clerks whose service conditions had been affected and whose cadre was merged with the cadre of the Foresters by that Government Order. Rule 18 as pointed out earlier makes it mandatory for the claimants to implead all those public servants who are likely to be adversely affected by any order that may be passed by the Public Services Tribunal. THE claim petition filed before the Tribunal was, therefore, not maintainable. THE order of the Tribunal passed on that claim petition is therefore unsustainable.