ASHOK PRATAP SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed for quashing the order dated 5.4.2004 (Annexure-14) passed by the respondent No. 3, and further to issue mandamus directing the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 to give charge to the petitioner on the post of Executive Engineer, Electricity Workshop Division, Allahabad (hereinafter called Workshop).

(2.) Facts and circumstances giving rise to this case are that petitioner, an Executive Engineer, stood transferred from Electricity Distribution Division, Allahabad vide order dated 15.7.2003 (Annexure-1), to the Office of the General Manager (Distribution), Allahabad Division, Allahabad. Petitioner challenged the said order mainly on the ground that he had been posted there only a few months ago, by filing Writ Petition No. 31275 of 2003, and this Court vide order dated 24th July, 2003 (Annexure-2) stayed the operation of the said transfer order, and the said petition is still pending. In the meanwhile, petitioner stood transferred from Electricity Distribution Division I, Allahabad to Electricity Workshop Division, Allahabad vide order dated 22.12.2003 and he was relieved of the charge on the said post in absentia. Respondent No. 4 Shri Ram Milan Verma was transferred from Electricity Workshop Division to Electricity Distribution (Revenue), Division I, Allahabad vide order of the same date and he was also relieved from there. But the said respondent did not join at the transferred place. A fresh order dated 9th January, 2004 (Annexure-5) was passed transferring the said respondent on a newly created post of Executive Engineer, Electricity (Distribution), Salempur (Deoria). Respondent No. 4 did not join there also. One Shri Chandra Deo Goswami was posted on that post in Salempur (Deoria) vide order dated 30.1.2004, and respondent No. 4 was transferred to Distribution Division III, Ram Bagh, Allahabad, One Shri Tej Bahadur Ram, in turn, was attached to the Office of General Manager (Distribution) Zone, Allahabad. Said Shri Tej Bahadur Ram filed Writ Petition No. 4232 of 2004 challenging that order only, as the Court was of the prima facie view that there had been an arbitrary attitude of the said authority towards petitioner therein, and transfer order was passed only to accommodated the said respondent, i.e., Ram Milan Verma. It was mentioned in the interim order that respondent be allowed to join at the place of his earlier posting. Subsequently, an application for correction of the said order dated 6.2.2004 was filed by the said respondent and correction sought was made on 23.2.2004. The present petitioner filed an application for impleadment and modification of the order dated 23.2.2004, pointing out that the correction made in the order had adversely affected him as the said respondent stood relieved from the workshop and the petitioner/applicant had joined there and correction had been obtained by misrepresentation. Another application was filed by the respondent-Corporation for seeking modification of the order as corrected on 23.02.2004. When the matter came up for hearing before the Court on 2nd April, 2004, learned Counsel for the Corporation, Shri Ranjit Saxena, made a statement at the bar that the order dated 30th January, 2004 had been withdrawn by passing an order dated 31st March, 2004. Thus, the petition had become infructuous. The Court was appraised of the fact that vide order dated 31st March, 2004, respondent-Authority considering the order dated 23.2.2004, passed on the correction application made by the respondent No. 4, present petitioner had been transferred from the workshop.

(3.) Taking into consideration the statement made by the learned Counsel for the Corporation and also of the petitioner-applicant, the Court dismissed the petition as having become infructuous. However, to clarity the position further it was also mentioned in the order that "interim order passed by this Court from time to time do not survive. Any order consequential to the orders passed by this Court also stands vacated". Present petitioner immediately after passing the order on 2.4.2004 filed a representation dated 3.4.2004 before the competent authority to give effect to the said order, submitting that the interim orders passed by the Court or any consequential order in view thereof stood nullified, and therefore, the petitioner's posting to Workshop should not be disturbed.