HARCHAND SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who belongs to general category was working as Superintendent Grade III in the year 1983. According to him one post of Superintendent Grade I fell vacant and the said post was filled up by promoting the 3rd respondent temporarily for a period of six months but he has been continued even after the expiry of the said period. According to him there were four posts and two candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste were working against the quota of reservation for Scheduled Caste. According to the petitioner he was senior to the 3rd respondent, and, therefore, he should have been appointed as Superintendent Grade I instead of the 3rd respondent. The petitioner also averred that in Civil Writ Petition 3882 of 1981 this Court held by its Judgment dated 25.5.1982 that for working out the percentage the promotees/appointees in the cadre - whether on the basis of reservation or otherwise - have to be taken notice of and that any promotions of the members of the Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes made beyond the prescribed limit on the basis of instructions of the Government are void and non. est . Accordingly, this Court directed the authorities to consider the case of the petitioner in that case for promotion in the light of the observations made by their Lordships. The Government also clarified this position in their letter dated 27.7.1982 that the reservation for members of the Scheduled Caste is to be made on the basis of overall cadre strength of the posts and not on the basis of points reserved in the roster. The petitioner had served respondents 1 and 2 with demand notice dated 10.8.1982 inter-alia requesting to treat one post of Superindent Gr. I against which the 3rd respondent is working as unreserved and fill the same by considering the claim of the petitioner but the authorities did not take any action on the said notice. Therefore, the petitioner who is senior to the 3rd respondent filed this writ petition to consider his case for promotion to the post of Superindent Grade I in place of the 3rd respondent.

(2.) The 3rd respondent filed written statement alleging that in the general category he is junior but in the reserved category he is senior to the petitioner. He further stated that 20% vacancies are kept reserved for the Scheduled Caste.

(3.) I need not to go into the several contentions raised on behalf of the parties in view of the latest decision of the Supreme Court in Ajit Singh v. State of Punjab and other, 1996 AIR(SC) 1189 (SC) wherein considering various authorities their Lordships of Supreme Court held as follows :-