HIMANSHU KUKKAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition has been filed seeking quashing of order dtd. 21/5/2020 (Annexure P-3) to the extent it has placed the petitioners at lower slot in the seniority list than the respondents No.3 to 19 (private respondents), in violation of the earlier order dtd. 2/12/2019 (Annexure P-2) passed by this Court in CWP No.1361 of 2017, with a further prayer that the petitioners be allotted seniority over and above the above said private respondents.

(2.) The facts in brief; as can be delineated from the writ petition; are that the petitioners were in service in the respondent- Department. The petitioners were promoted up to the post of Assistant Food Supplies Officers. Later on vide order dtd. 31/12/2012 the petitioners were promoted as Food and Supplies Officers against the promotion quota posts, along with other eligible persons, who were promoted separately vide order dtd. 9/11/2012. Thereafter, the respondents No.3 to 19 were appointed on the posts of Food and Supplies Officers by way of direct recruitment; in February, 2014. So the petitioners had already been working on the post of Food and Supplied Officers for the past about two years, when the private respondents joined the services in the Department as Food and Supplies Officers.

(3.) On 21/7/2016, the respondent-Department issued a tentative seniority list for the cadre of Food and Supplies Officers. The objections were invited qua the same. After inviting the objections and dealing with the same, the seniority list was finalized by the Department on 27/12/2016. The said final seniority list was challenged by the direct recruits by filing CWP No.1361 of 2017 and CWP No.7203 of 2017. The primary ground for challenging the seniority list was that some of the promotees including the petitioners had been granted promotion on the post of Food and Supplies Officers even though they were not eligible to be promoted as per the qualifications prescribed under the Rules. Hence, they cannot be taken to have been validly promoted on their post. If they are to be retained on the promotional post by the authorities, they are free to retain them, but the seniority of such persons has to be put after the direct recruits; who had joined the Department after being selected through competitive process. The said writ petition was disposed of by this court vide judgment/order dtd. 2/12/2019, whereby the promotion order of the present petitioners and the final seniority list was quashed.