RAJ PAL SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition shall dispose of C.W.P. Nos. 17184 of 1996 and 1332 of 1995; the facts are being taken from the former.

(2.) The petitioner, Raj Pal Singh, joined the Haryana Police as an Assistant Sub Inspector on 15th July, 1974, after having been selected by the Subordinate Services Selection Board. He was promoted as Inspector in January, 1986. The petitioner was thereafter directly appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police w.e.f. 8th February, 1988, as a special case, on account of his outstanding performance as a Police Officer and the selection was duly approved by the Haryana Public Service Commission. He was confirmed as a D.S.P. on 8th February, 1990 and was granted the senior time scale w.e.f. 8th February, 1993. It is the petitioner's case that as of today he is at the 7th position in seniority of D.S.Ps. in the State of Haryana as per the gradation list circulated on 1st October, 1995, and, as such, was in the zone of consideration for induction into the Indian Police Service. Respondent Nos. 20 and 22 Rajbir Singh and Baljit Singh had joined service as Assistant Sub-Inspectors in Hisar Range. They filed a representation before the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Hisar Range, seeking confirmation as A.S.Is. from an earlier date and this Officer vide his order dated 25th February, 1991 (Annexure P-22) ordered their notional date of confirmation as Sub-Inspectors w.e.f. 10th November, 1977, on the premise that one Sajjan Singh, a Sub- Inspector in Gurgaon Range, and junior to these two officers, had been confirmed from that date. Consequent to the order Annexure P-22 these two respondents were brought on promotion list 'G' w.e.f. 28th October, 1987 and given a deemed date of promotion as D.S.Ps on provisional basis w.e.f. 16th November, 1987. The State Government thereafter issued order dated 15th March, 1994 (Annexure P.23) wherein it was directed that the inter se seniority of respondents No. 20 and 22 as D.S.Ps. would be below Sat Pal and above the petitioner Raj Pal Singh. Several other D.S.Ps. taking benefit of the order Annexure P-22 also got the dates of confirmation as Sub-Inspectors ante dated to 10th November, 1977. It appears that the State Government in the meanwhile concluded that the order Annexure P-22 was erroneous and a show cause notice Annexure P-24 dated 28th June, 1995 was issued to respondent Nos. 20 and 22 and the other D.S.Ps. as to why the benefit given to them should not be withdrawn. In this notice it was spelt out that as on 10th November, 1977 no posts of Sub-Inspectors were available against which respondent Nos. 20, 22 and the others could have been confirmed and that as the seniority of the Sub-Inspectors was to be maintained range-wise, their confirmation in a different range i.e. in Gurgaon Range and giving them ante dated promotion on the ground that one Sajjan Singh who Sub Inspector in Gurgaon Range and was junior to them had been confirmed, was wholly unjustified. While the matter was still under consideration, Jaswant Singh Lamba and some of the other respondents in the petition filed C.W.P. No. 4272 of 1995 claiming that as they were senior to respondent Nos. 20 and 22, they were entitled to confirmation from an earlier date as well. The matter came up for hearing before a Division Bench of this Court on 23rd November, 1995 and the petition was disposed of with the following observations :-

(3.) It is the conceded case that the Secretary of the Home Department, Haryana, has not passed any order so far on this petition. Respondent No. 2, the Director General of Police, however, passed an order dated 25th October, 1996 (Annexure R-8/3) wherein he modified the date of the confirmation of respondent Nos. 3 to 22 from 10.11.1977 to 18.8.1978 and directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Hisar Range, to implement the order forthwith. The D.I.G. in consequence passed the order Annexure P-25 dated 20.4.1996. A subsequent order annexure P-26 dated 31st October, 1996, was issued by respondent No. 2 in which respondent Nos. 3 to 22 have been granted ante dated entry to list 'F' w.e.f. 11th February, 1980 and were accordingly promoted as Inspectors on 5th April, 1980 and as a consequence of these orders, these respondents would rank senior to the petitioner as D.S.Ps. The petitioners have accordingly impugned Annexures P-25 and P-26 in the writ petition. The primary grievance of the petitioners is that respondent No. 2 had passed orders Annexure P-25 and P-26 giving the deemed date of confirmation as Sub- Inspectors w.e.f. 18th August, 1978, and as Inspectors w.e.f. 5th April, 1980 to the private respondents and that this order was wholly unjustified for the reason that on 18th August, 1978 there was no vacant post of Sub-Inspectors in the range concerned against which they could have been confirmed. It has also been pleaded that the action of the official respondents was mala fide on law and facts and allegations of various kinds have been made.