JAGDISH KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner claims promotion from Class IV service to the post of Clerk in Class III service. Since the claim of the petitioner was not being considered, she approached this Court by filing the instant writ petition.

(2.) On the issuance of notice of motion, written statement has been filed. In paragraph 6 of the preliminary objections, it is averred by the respondents that the petitioner would be promoted as and when her turn in the seniority list matures, if she has passed the Punjabi type-writing test. So far as denial of promotion on the basis of seniority is concerned, the same cannot be interfered with. However, insofar as the issue, whether the petitioner is required to qualify the type-writing test before considering her claim for promotion is concerned, the matter has been considered by this Court in Ramesh Chand and others v. The Director, Department of Rural Development and Panchayats Punjab and another, 2005 1 SCT 24, (C.W.P. No. 5401 of 2003, decided on 4.8.2003) , wherein it was concluded that in the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, Punjab, there was no provision requiring an individual to qualify the Punjabi type-writting test before his claim could be considered for promotion to the post of Clerk.

(3.) In the present case also, in the absence of any statutory provision to the contrary, the Punjab Civil Services (General & Common Conditions) Rules, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as 'the 1994 Rules'), would be relevant to determine the contriversy in hand. Under the 1994 Rules, the rule-making authority laid down the requirement of qualifying the type-writing test in Punjabi with a minimum speed of 30 words per minute within one year of the date of the direct recruitment. The 1994 Rules did not lay down such a pre-condition/stipulation for appointment by promotion to the post of Clerk. The inference, that is liable to be drawn from the conditions delineated under the 1994 Rules, is, that while qualifying the type-writing test in Punjabi is a condition for direct recruitment, it is not a pre-condition for promotion.