HARI SINGH Vs. FINANCIAL COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner and respondent No. 3 belong to the village Mauli Bedwan, tehsil Kharar, district Ropar. Both of them alongwith some others were candidates for the post of Lambardar. The Collector ordered that Hari Singh petitioner should be appointed to this post. The Commissioner vide his order dated September 11, 1967, set aside the order of the Collector and ordered that Shri Ajmer Singh respondent No. 3 should be appointed as the Lambardar. In coming to this conclusion, the Commissioner observed that the order of the Collector was rather sketchy. According to him, the last Lambardar Des Raj was a Jat Sikh and Ajmer Singh, who is also a Jat Sikh, was a better candidate. He also compared the holdings of the various contestants and came to the conclusion that Ajmer Singh's position appeared to be the best on this count. His nephew was stated to be serving in the Army and he also invested Rs. 100/- in the National Savings Certificates. The Commissioner considered that there were 56 Jat proprietors in this area as against 16 Brahman proprietors belonging to the cast of Shri Hari Singh petitioner. After considering all these factors, the Commissioner observed as under :-

(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioner has urged that his client has been excluded on considerations of caste and descent, which is in contravention of Article 16(2) of the Constitution. This article reads as under :-