RAMESH CHANDER GUPTA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners were working as Assistants/Sales Managers in the department of Information and Public Relations, Punjab. The grievance made in this petition is that they were entitled to be considered for promotion to tile post of Public Relations Officers under Rule 9(h) of the Punjab Public Relations Department (Gazetted) Service Rules, 1958 (hereinafter called the 'Rules'). They allege that in spite of the fact that they were duly qualified and eligible for consideration under the above Rule, but the respondent State only considered the cases of Assistant Public Relations Officers for promotion to the post of Public Relations Officers, thereby the claims of the petitioners were ignored. It is alleged that the promotion of Assistant Public Relations Officers was in violation of Rule 9(h) as well as Art. 16 of the Constitution of India. Rule 9(h) of the Rules may be noticed here. Recruitment to the Service shall be made:-

(2.) The case put forth by the respondents in the written statement is that on 10.10.1983, Punjab Department of Information of Public Relations (Class-I) Service "Rules, 1988 were promulgated and by Rule 20 of these Rules. The Punjab Public Relations Department (Gazetted) Service Rules, 1958 were repealed. It may be observed here that the abovesaid Class-I Rules do not pertain to the post of Public Relations Officer, as the said post is a Class-II post. It is further the case of the respondents that after the repeal of 1958 Class-II (Gazetted) Rules, new service rules were framed for Class-II Service of the Department and these Draft Rules for Class-II Service have been cleared by the Punjab Public Service Commission, Finance Department and Department of Personnel with some modifications. Under these Rules, the Assistant and Sales Managers have not been made eligible for promotion to the post of Public Relations Officers and a separate channel for promotion in their own cadre has been provided for them. Apart from that, it has been stated that according to the recommendation of the IIIrd Pay Commission, which has since been accepted and implemented by the Government only Assistant Public Relations Officers are eligible for promotion as Public Relations Officers. It was in this view of the matter that cases of the petitioners were not considered for promotion to the post of Public Relations Officers.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that it is by now well settled that Draft Rules have no force of law and till these Rules are published and enforced, they cannot be relied upon. There cannot be any exception to this proposition of law. However, in this case we are faced with a situation that by promulgation of Class-I Rules, 1988, the 1958 (Gazetted) Rules were repealed, meaning thereby that w.e.f. 10.10.1988 (when the Class-I Rules were promulgated) the 1958 (Gazetted) Rules were no more on the statute book, Consequently the right of the petitioners to be considered for promotion to the post of Public Relations Officers under the 1958 (Gazetted) Rules stood extinguished. Then the question arises whether the decision of the Government, not to consider the cases of the petitioners for promotion, is arbitrary ? In the absence of any Rules, the Government had to take some conscious decision. In this case what has been stated in the written statement is that the decision of the Government was that according to the Draft Rules the categories of the post, which the petitioners held were no longer eligible for promotion to the post of Public Relations Officer. The said Draft Rules having been approved by the Punjab Public Service Commission as also by the Finance Department were to apply to the cases of the petitioners. Moreover, according to the respondents such was the recommendation of the IIIrd Pay Commission also, which has already been accepted and implemented by the State Government. In this view of the matter, it cannot be said that the decision of the State Government not to consider the claims of the petitioners for the purpose of promotion to the post of Public Relations Officer was arbitrary or violative of Art. 16 of the Constitution of India. For the foregoing reasons, I do not find any merit in this petition, which is hereby dismissed but there will be no order as to costs. Petition dismissed.