BALWINDER KAUR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is directed against the orders (Annexures P-3 and P-4) vide which respondent Nos. 4 to 11 have been promoted as Junior Auditors in the Food and Supplies Department, Punjab.

(2.) The petitioners as well as respondent Nos. 4 to 11 joined service in the Food and Supplies Department of the Government of Punjab. While the petitioners have been appointed in the Subordinate Offices, respondents Nos. 4 to 11 have been appointed at the Head Office, i.e., the Directorate of Food & Supplies. By orders Annexures P-3 and P-4 the private respondents have been promoted as Junior Auditors. These promotions have been questioned by the petitioners on the ground that separate lists of seniority of clerks of the Subordinate Offices and the Head Office are maintained and, therefore, the Clerks of the Head Office cannot be promoted to the posts of Junior Auditors in the Subordinate Offices. The petitioners say that the Department has promoted respondents Nos. 4 to 11 without considering their cases and this action of respondent Nos. 1 and 2 not only violates their legal and constitutional rights but is also arbitrary and unfair.

(3.) In their reply respondent Nos. 1 and 2 have pleaded that the Clerks of Head Office are eligible to be promoted as Junior Auditors in terms of Rule 9(J) of the Punjab Food and Supplies Department (State Service Class III) Rules, 1968 (for short 'the 1968 Rules'). The respondents have stated that the posts of Clerks in the Subordinate Offices and the Head Office are governed by the same set of rules and, therefore, promotions of respondent Nos. 4 to 11, who are senior to the petitioners, cannot be declared as arbitrary and unconstitutional.