SUKHJINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HAS the petitioner been removed from service by an authority subordinate to the appointing authority ? This is the short question that arises for consideration in this writ petition.

(2.) THE petitioner was appointed as an Agriculture Inspector in the year 1976. In the year 1979, the Horticulture Wing of the Agriculture Department was constituted into a separate unit. The petitioner was designated as Horticulture Inspector. Vide Notification dated January 22, 1991, all Horticulture Inspectors were re-designated as Horticulture Development Officers. On October 9, 1992, the petitioner was confirmed as a Horticulture Development Officer.

(3.) MR . Riar, learned counsel for the petitioner, has contended that on re-designation and confirmation, the Director of Horticulture, Punjab, had ceased to be the petitioner's appointing authority. Consequently, he was not competent to impose the penalty is it so ?