SOHAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners were all working as Classical and Vernacular teachers. They were all transferred to District Ferozepore between the period Ist June, 1967 to 25th July, 1968. Vide order dated 5th January, 1996, copy Annexure P-2, some teachers who were the colleagues of the petitioners in District Amritsar were given selection grade retrospectively. Five of them were given with effect from 1.11.1966 and rest of them between the period 16.12.1968 to 1.1.1976. It is not disputed that all those teachers who had been given the selection grade retrospectively were junior to the petitioners in District Amritsar.

(2.) The petitioners are claiming that their juniors having been given the selection grade, they are also entitled to the grant of selection grade though they are no more working in District Amritsar. Reliance has been placed on a single Bench judgment of this Court in Avtar Singh, Drawing Master, High School, Zira v. State of Punjab and others,1993 2 SCT 628R.S.A. No. 2495 of 1993, decided on April 11, 1994 : copy Annexure P-11.

(3.) After hearing learned counsel for the parties we are of the view that the grant of selection grade is dependent on the person being at a particular number in the seniority list as the selection grade is granted by the rules to a particular percentage of employees in a cadre who are the senior - most upto that percentage. For sake of illustration, if 15 per cent employees are to get selection grade and the cadre is of 100, the first 15 in the seniority list would be in the selection grade where as rest of 85 will be in the Time Scale. If a person gets himself transferred at his own request to another District, he would lose his seniority and would not carry his previous service along with him from where he is transferred as the transfer is on the volition of the employees. Suppose in a given case the person as in the above-mentioned illustration is amongst the first 15 persons and gets himself transferred at his own request to another District, and in the other District he is not amongst the first 15 persons as per his new seniority, would he carry the selection grade which he was getting from the District from where he was transferred According to us, the answer to this question has to be in the negative. As observed earlier, the grant of the selection grade depends on a person being at a particular number of seniority depending on the percentage of the posts in the selection grade. This right is personal to such a person and he would lose that right the moment he gets out of that range in another District. Of course, if retrospectively, some juniors are given the selection grade prior to the date of any such transfer then for the period with effect from the retrospective date till the person is transferred, he would be entitled to the selection grade as per his seniority in the parent District because had he remained there, he would have been amongst the first 15 persons as per the illustration. But after his transfer to a new District, if he is not amongst the first 15 persons then his pay will be fixed in the time scale. Of course, the period he might have spent in the selection grade would be counted for purpose of increments in the Time Scale. The matter can be viewed from another angle. As per the illustration given above, if 15% posts are in the selection grade of a cadre of 100 in each District, first 15 persons in the seniority list would get the selection grade in each District. If a person who is transferred on his own volition is to carry the selection grade with him, then the end result would be that in a cadre of 100, in the District he is transferred, 16 persons would be in the selection grade and in fact first 15 in the seniority list and the junior-most at a given time who will be the 16th person would get the selection grade and in the parent District in place of the transferee, another person would get the selection grade. This would not be permissible by the Rules that in a cadre of 100, 16 persons would get the selection grade. In such an eventuality, a junior person would get more pay than his senior.