PARBATI PRASAD CHALIHA Vs. UNION OH INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition is concerned with the seniority dispute between the petitioner and the respondent No. 4 who are presently serving as Chief Medical Officer under the respondents.

(2.) The history of the case leads us to 1975 when the State of Arunachal Pradesh had not attained statehood and was a Union Territory. While the petitioner was appointed as Junior Medical Officer on ad hoc basis under the then administration of A.P. by Annexure-P1 order dated Nil of May, 1975, the respondent No. 4 was appointed as such by Annexure-P3 order dated 23.10.75. Both the orders were issued by the Govt. of India in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Department of Health). Their such appointments were in the basic pay of Rs. 650-1200/-. The terms and conditions of both the appointments were the same. Thus, on the basis of the initial orders of appointment the petitioner is admittedly senior to the respondent No. 4. Both the incumbents, i.e. the petitioner and respondent No. 4 were regularized in their service pursuant to their selection by the UPSC. Both of them were appointed as Medical Officer in A.P. in the pay scale of Rs. 700-1300/- and the pay of the petitioner was fixed at Rs. 820/-. By Annexures-P7 and P8 orders dated 13.07.77 and 23.02.78 respectively, the petitioner and the respondent No. 4 were stated to be on probation with effect from 30.10.76.

(3.) A civil list of Medical Officers (Junior Class-I) of the Central Health Service (C.H.S.) as on 01.01.83 was issued in which the petitioner was included at serial No. 495 and the respondent No. 4 was included at serial No. 595. It is the case of the petitioner that such fixation of seniority was on the basis of the merit positions obtained by the Medical Officers in the selection conducted by the UPSC.