KAMDEV MOHANTY Vs. STATE OF ORISSA AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing Annexure 4 under which the Petitioner has been transferred from the post of Grade II Assistant Accountant in the Director of Bureau of Statistics and Economics (hereinafter referred to as 'Bureau ') to the post of Head Clerk -cum -Accountant, District Kalahandi and for restoration of the Petitioner to his former post.

(2.) THE Petitioner was initially appointed as Lower Division Statistical Clerk in the office of the District Statistical Office, Cuttack on 22 -7 -1959. He was promoted to the rank of Upper Division Statistical Clerk on 19 -3 -1963 and was posted as such under the District Statistical Officer, Sambalpur. Again he got promotion to a higher rank, namely, Head Clerk -cum -Accountant on 29 -6 -1967 and was posted as such under the District Statistical Officer, Sundergarh. This post of Head Clerk -cum -Accountant is the highest post in the District cadre and there is only one such Post in every district. The ministerial staff of all ranks, namely, Lower Division, Upper Division and Head Clerk etc. in all the districts constitute one cadre with a combined gradation list. After a ministerial servant becomes Head Clerk -Cum -Accountant, he has no further prospects of promotion in the district cadre. The Petitioner alleges that being a graduate and a promising Assistant working as Head Clerk from 29 -6 -1967, he made representations to the Director of the Bureau opposite party No. 2, for absorbing him in the Bureau as Grade II Accountant -Assistant which is an equivalent post to that of Head Clerk -cum -Accountant in the District cadre with equal scale of pay. This the Petitioner did mainly on two considerations; firstly as a man of Cuttack he preferred the office of the Bureau which was located at Cuttack (upto 31 -8 -1971) and secondly, in the Bureau there were many promotional prospects. Petitioner 's last representation in that regard was dated 17 -7 -1971. He was selected for the post of Accountant. Assistant under opposite party No. 2 and was issued the appointment order No. 8748 dated 17 -7 -1971 (Annexure -2).

(3.) IN the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the two opposite parties, the allegations in the petition have been answered saying that the initial appointment of the Petitioner under Annexure 2 is "actually a transfer and not a fresh appointment" ; that inclusion of the name of the Petitioner in the gradation list of the Bureau is a mistake; that he has been transferred to a comparable post in the exigencies of public service; and that the instances cited are all distinguishable. This is how the case of the Petitioner has been met in the counter affidavit.