SARUP SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) At the time of filing of this petition, Petitioner was serving as Executive Engineer of Punjab PWD (B&R Branch). After joining as Assistant Engineer in Punjab PWD (B&R Branch) on 26th December, 1964 on his selection by Punjab Public Service Commission, the Petitioner was promoted as Executive Engineer on 1st December, 1971. He was later placed in senior scale of P.S.E. Class I with effect from 1st December, 1982,--vide Punjab Government Order dated 24th April, 1984. The Petitioner claims that his performance as Engineer has been excellent and he was selected for various prestigious refresher courses and has also been instrumental in construction of various prestigious projects of the Punjab Government like Punjab Bhavan, New Delhi, Sri Dasmesh Academy, Anandpur Sahib etc. The Petitioner belongs to Scheduled Caste Category. Under the policy instructions of the State Government as notified,--vide instructions dated 4th May, 1974 (Annexure P-l), 14% reservation is prescribed for promotion to and within Class-I and Class-Ill posts. It is the case of the Petitioner that the reservation is applicable for promotions to the temporary and short term vacancies as well and for this reference is made to various Government Instructions (Annexures P-2 to P-6). While referring to instructions dated 5th December, 1975 (Annexure P-6), it is contended that the reservation policy is applicable to regular, temporary and deputation posts held by the Officers in a particular rank and cadre. Under instructions dated 4th May, 1974, roster has been notified and the vacancies at Sr. Nos. 1, 7, 15, 22, 30 are reserved for promotion to the members of the Scheduled Castes. These instructions came into force from 6th March, 1974. It is stated that till 11th May, 1984, 14 vacancies of Superintending Engineers were filled up,--vide order dated 11th May, 1984. The case of the Petitioner is that two Executive Engineers under Scheduled Castes Category were senior to him and they occupied the Roster points at Sr. Nos. 1 and 7. The Petitioner is left as the senior most Executive Engineer. He was entitled to occupy Roster Point No. 15, in accordance with the reservation policy dated 4th May, 1974 referred to here-in-above, but he has been denied the consideration and the benefit of reservation, despite being eligible and meritorious. According to the Petitioner, this slot meant for reserved category of scheduled castes candidates has been filled up by granting promotion to the General Category candidates which is in gross violation to Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India as also the Government Instructions referred to here-in-above. According to the Petitioner, as many as 27 vacancies of Superintending Engineers were available. There are 19 Officers in the Department and 8 Officers on deputation who are holding the ranks of Superintending Engineers. All of them are the confirmed Engineers and out of 27 Superintending Engineers, only two are the members of the Scheduled Castes. It is further stated that all the 8 deputationists belong to General Category. The Petitioner made various representations claiming promotion against the roster point for Scheduled Castes Category. Some of the representations have been placed on record as Annexures P-9 and P-10.

(2.) While admitting that the Petitioner is a member of Scheduled Castes Category and belongs to reserved category, the Respondent-State has taken a clear stand that there are only 13 sanctioned vacancies of Superintending Engineer and two vacancies are occupied by the members of Scheduled Castes, namely, Shri G.S. Dhaliwal and G.S. Gurmail Bhatwa at Sr. Nos. 1 and 7.

(3.) Vide order dated 16th July, 2004, Respondent-State was directed to file an additional affidavit of some responsible Officer giving details of the permanent as well as temporary posts (including deputation reserve) of Superintending Engineers existing at the relevant time. In furtherance to the aforesaid direction, an affidavit dated 13th August, 2004 has been filed. When this matter was taken up on 20th October, 2008, it was found that the affidavit filed lacks relevant information as directed by this Court,--vide order dated 16th July, 2004. It was also observed that the deponent has tried to hoodwink the court without giving detailes of available permanent/temporary/ deputation posts available in the year 1983. Accordingly, another opportunity of one week was allowed to the Respondents to file an appropriate affidavit. In response to the aforesaid direction, an additional affidavit of S.S. Khara, Additional Secretary to Government of Punjab, Department of Public Works (B&R Branch), Chandigarh has been filed,--vide CM No. 21237 of 2008 which was listed after the case was reserved and has been taken on record by separate order dated 20th November, 2008.