MD. YAKUP ALI Vs. MD. ABDUL RAJAK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By common Judgment and Order dtd. 16/8/2021, a learned Judge of this Court disposed of three writ petitions, viz., W.P. (C) No. 17 of 2019, W.P. (C) No. 240 of 2019 and W.P. (C) No. 608 of 2019. Thereby, the learned Judge set aside the orders of promotion dtd. 6/1/2019 and 17/7/2019 of Md. Wahid Ali and Md. Yakup Ali respectively and remitted the matter to the authorities for consideration afresh within a time frame.

(2.) W.P. (C) No. 17 of 2019 was filed by Md. Yakup Ali (wrongly shown as Md. Yakub Ali in the judgment under appeal), a Division Commander in the Manipur Home Guards. His grievance was that Md. Wahid Ali, respondent No. 4 therein, a Company Commander, who had only been assigned Division Commander duty on acting/temporary basis, was promoted to the rank of Battalion Commander and posted as such at Bn-V, Bishnupur, by order dtd. 6/1/2019 (wrongly shown as 6/1/2018 therein). Assailing the said promotion, Md. Yakup Ali filed the writ petition. By interim order dtd. 17/1/2019, the order dtd. 6/1/2019 was suspended.

(3.) Manipur Home Guards is a voluntary uniformed service established in 1966 and it is presently governed by the Manipur Home Guards Act, 1989 (hereinafter, 'the Act of 1989'). As per Sec. 2(b) thereof, 'Home Guard' means a person who is appointed as such, and includes an officer appointed under the Act of 1989. Sec. 3 deals with constitution of the Home Guards and states that, by way of a notification in the Official Gazette, the State Government shall constitute a volunteer body called the Manipur Home Guards, the members of which shall discharge such functions and duties in relation to protection of persons, security of property, public safety, maintenance of essential services and preservation of public order and tranquility as may be assigned to them. Sec. 4 provides for appointment of a Commandant General of Home Guards. Sec. 6 deals with appointment of Home Guards. Sec. 6(1) authorizes the Commandant to appoint such number of persons as members of the Home Guards as may be determined by the State Government and he may appoint any such member to any office of command in the Home Guards. Sec. 6(2) states that, notwithstanding anything contained in Sec. 6(1), the Commandant General may, subject to the approval of the State Government, appoint any such member to any post under his immediate control. Rule 7 of the Manipur Home Guards Rules, 1996 (for brevity, 'the Rules of 1996'), provides that the term of office of a member of the Home Guards shall be three years but the person, once appointed, shall be eligible for re-appointment. All the parties to this litigation seem to have been so re-appointed and this rule is of no real significance.