JAGDISH LAL Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing the Government to regularise the services of the petitioners as Masters/ Mistresses in terms of the Government instructions dated March 29, 1985, as amended by the subsequent instructions dated August 8, 1985. 2. The Government instructions dated March 29, 1985, read as follows :-

(2.) The matter has been considered and Government have now decided that the services of all ad hoc/temporary employees appointed Co Class III Services/posts, who have one year service to their credit on 1-4-85 may also be regularised. The conditions for such regularisation as contained in this Department's earlier communication, dated 29th March, 1985, as referred to above, however, remain the same and should be meticulously observed."

(3.) The petitioners in this writ petition were appointed as Masters/Mistresses in Government Schools in the District of Amritsar on ad hoc basis and have continued in service with notional breaks and on the date of the petition in June 1986, they have more than three years' service to their credit. As seen from the written statement filed on behalf of the respondents, it is seen that if we take the school-year, i. e. June 1 of the year to May 31 of the succeeding year, then during 1982-83, the break in service of petitioners 2 to 8 are 13, 10, 15, 11, 8, 12 and 17 days respectively; for the year 1983-84, their break in service was 25, 26, 22, 31, 21, 43, and 25 days respectively; and for 1984-85 i.e. June 1, 1984 to May 31, 1985, the break in service was 24, 24, 25, 24, 25, 31 and 18 days respectively. We have taken the year as school year June to May because the petitioners are all school masters or mistresses employed in secondary schools under the control of the District Education Officer, Amritsar. If we take the financial year as the criterion, then the break in service for 1982-83 in respect of the petitioners was 45, 49, 33, 42, 39, 15, 48 and 49, days respectively, for 1983-84, the break in service was 6, 7, 6, 6, 11, 7, 26 and 10 days respectively and for 1984-1985, the break in service was 42, 47, 48, 42, 48, 41, 50 and 41 days respectively. But, the Government have taken not only the financial year as the criterion, but also 1984-85 as the only relevant year and on the basis that in the financial year 1984-85, the break in service for each of these petitioners was more than 30 days, did not send up their names to the Director of Public Instruction for regularisation. Feeling aggrieved by this, the petitioners have filed this writ petition praying for the relief above-mentioned.