MADAN LAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner joined service in the Police Department as an Executive Clerk in the year 1947. Thereafter he was appointed an Accountant on 16.6.1956 in the Health Department on selection/recommendation by the Subordinate Services Selection Board. On 27.6.1956 the clerical staff and the Accountants were merged in the Health Department. A tentative seniority list of the clerical staff was circulated on 16.12.1958 in which the name of the petitioner appeared at serial No. 87 and he was shown as a clerk. He represented that his seniority be shown amongst the Accountants and not as a clerk. The representation was allowed and his seniority fixed amongst the Accountants. Petitioner was placed at the bottom of the list of Accountants and above the clerks and he was satisfied with his placement. It appears that the department while preparing the seniority list had shown 3 or 4 persons as senior to the petitioner but according to him they were junior. Petitioner made another representation and by an order dated 9.6.1963 the State Government directed that the mistake be rectified and the petitioner given his seniority above them. The officials thus affected were given an opportunity to represent and their representations were rejected. As a result of the corrections made the petitioner was placed at serial No. 19 in the joint seniority list. Again on receipt of representations from four clerks (three from erstwhile State of Punjab and one from erstwhile State of Pepsu) the Government of India altered the joint seniority list by placing the petitioner's name at serial number 87 instead of 19 and the Director Health Services, Punjab, communicated this order dated 9.3.1966 to the petitioner. This alteration was made under Section 115(5) of the State Re-organisation Act, 1956 after taking into consideration the recommendations of the State Advisory Committee appointed by the Government of India. The petitioner was not afforded an opportunity of hearing nor was any notice issued to him before the seniority list was altered. Feeling aggrieved by this alteration, he filed CWP 562 of 1966 in this Court challenging the order dated 9.3.1966. Two contentions were advanced on behalf of the petitioner. Firstly, it was urged that the petitioner had been appointed an Accountant in the parent State before its merger with the erstwhile State of Pepsu on 1.11.1956 and, therefore, his seniority in the parent State as it obtained before merger could not be disturbed by the Central Government under Rule 16 of the Punjab Services Integration Rules, 1957. According to the petitioner, inter se seniority could be altered by the Central Government only where the same was fixed as a result of merger and not otherwise. The second contention advanced before this Court was that he had not been afforded any opportunity of hearing before his seniority was altered. Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.N. Grover who heard the writ petition allowed the same on 11.11.1966 on the second submission made on behalf of the petitioner and in view of that it was not considered necessary by the learned Judge to deal with the first contention. While quashing the order impugned therein it was observed as under :-

(2.) In compliance with the directions issued by this Court the seniority list was changed and the petitioner assigned the seniority at serial number 19 and the same was again circulated to all the concerned officials. After the decision of the writ petition, the petitioner was promoted on 1.11.1970 as Head Assistant in the grade of 150-300 and thereafter he was further promoted as Superintendent in the scale of 300-500 w.e.f. 13.11.1975. He was confirmed as a Superintendent on 7.5.1979.

(3.) When almost 15 years had passed after the writ petition had been allowed by this Court and the petitioner meanwhile had been promoted as Head Assistant and thereafter as Superintendent, it suddenly occurred to the Government of India to issue a notice to the four representionists who had earlier filed the representations against the fixation of seniority of the petitioner as an Accountant. The petitioner was also summoned and so was the State Government. They were required to appear before the Central Government on 24.8.1981 to explain why the representations made by the four officials be not accepted. This show cause notice was issued supposedly with a view to implement the High Court directions issued 15 years back in CWP 562 of 1966. It may be mentioned that the representationists were challenging the placement of the petitioner at serial number 19 in the joint seniority list and according to them the petitioner should have been placed at serial number 87. The petitioner made a detailed representation. The Central Government as per its letter dated July, 1982 communicated to the Financial Commissioner and Secretary to Government of Punjab, Health Department that the seniority of the petitioner at serial number 87 as on 1.11.1956, (i.e. as an Accountant) in the integrated seniority list had been rightly fixed. Thereafter by an order dated 28.10.1983 the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab reverted the petitioner from the post of Superintendent to that of Assistant-cum-Accountant w.e.f. 26.5.1967 and posted him in the office of Civil Surgeon, Gurdaspur as an Assistant-cum-Accountant. This reversion was a consequence of his seniority having been altered by the Central Government as an Accountant w.e.f. 1.11.1956. It was further ordered that his pay would be fixed under the rules and recovery, if any, made from him. It was stated in this order that a show cause notice to deconfirm him from the post of Head Assistant and Superintendent was being served upon him separately. Simultaneously, on the same day i.e. on 28.10.1983 the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab served on the petitioner a notice to show cause why he should not be deconfirmed from the post of Superintendent. A copy of this notice is Annexure P.9 with the writ petition. It was at this stage that the petitioner approached this Court through the present writ petition challenging the order of the Central Government dated July, 1982 whereby his seniority as an Accountant was changed and he was shown at serial number 87 on the integrated seniority list w.e.f. 1.11.1956. The order dated 28.10.1983 reverting him to the post of Assistant-cum-Accountant has also been impugned and so also the show cause notice seeking to deconfirm him as Superintendent.