HARBHAJAN SINGH Vs. ORIENTAL BANK OF COMMERCE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of this writ petition, the petitioners are seeking two fold relief, one is to quash the circular dated August 3, 1990 to the extent that it included the posts of Agricultural Officers and second relief for issuing a writ of mandamus directing the Ist respondent-Bank to fill up the posts of Agricultural Officers from amongst the Agricultural Assistants.

(2.) The petitioners have been working as Agricultural Assistants on regular basis in the Ist respondent-Bank. All of them possess Degree of B.Sc. in Agriculture and they have been selected and appointed as Agricultural Assistants on regular basis. According to them, there are three categories of posts in the Bank which require specialisation. They are : (i) Agriculture, (ii) Personnel and (iii) Law. The Petitioner's case is that Agricultural Officers and Agricultural Assistants are required to expand the banking business in rural masses having agricultural background. To fill up the post of Agricultural Officer, the experience and background in agriculture are required. As the petitioners have been working as Agricultural Assistants, they are entitled to be promoted as Agricultural Officers in the Bank. According to the petitioners, the impugned circular (vide Annexure P.11), does not make any difference from Agricultural Officers and other general category officers and the posts of Agricultural Officers are being filled up from amongst the persons who do not possess qualifications and experience in the field of agriculture. Therefore, their contention is that the post of Agricultural Officer should be filled by promoting the persons working as Agricultural Assistants in the Bank.

(3.) In the written statement, it is inter alia contended that Agricultural Assistants are covered under the clerical cadre in the respondent-Bank and the officers of the Bank are categorised in different scales mainly Junior Management Grade Scale-I, Middle Management Grade Scale-II and III, Senior Management Grade Scale IV and V and Top Executive Grade Scale VI and VII and there is no separate cadre of Agricultural Officers in the Bank and all the Officers from whichever source they have been promoted, are discharging the functions relating the Bank and the functions of the Agricultural Officers are categorised in Junior Management Grade Scale I. It is further contended that the very nature of the banking business envisages procurement of deposits from public and lending money on interest and all the staff of the Bank is engaged in this activity either directly or indirectly. The officers and the staff in the Bank are transferable from one department to another. It is further stated that merely because an Agricultural Assistant is performing certain duties, it does not mean that he ceased to function in the over all clerical cadre of the Bank. The Bank also relied on the Bipartite Settlement under which all the employees working in the Bank and performing any special duty remain in the clerical cadre and their pay scales, terms and conditions of service are uniform in nature. Bipartite Settlement prescribes that special allowances are intended to be given to compensate those persons who perform or discharge additional duties over and above their routine duties in the same cadre. Because of payment of special duty, no employee of the Bank can claim any right for promotion. Therefore, it is contended that the petitioners are not entitled to seek any relief in the writ petition. It is also averred in the written statement that the writ petition involves disputed questions of fact and, therefore, this Court cannot go into the same and the writ petition is also liable to be dismissed on this count.