PARAS RAM Vs. STATE OF H.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant herein has claimed the relief that the office order dated May 31, 2005 whereby he has been transferred from Store Baner to National Highway Pandon may be quashed and set aside and his salary from October 2003 to December 2003 may be directed to be release with interest.

(2.) The case of the applicant is that he is working as a work charged Beldar with the respondents since 1994. In 1996 he was given job of Chowkidar and was later permanently shifted for the job of Chowkidar in H.P.P. W.D. Store at Baner by issuing a separate Attendance register from January 1, 1996 and since then he is working as such. The applicant is also President of All Himachal Pradesh P.W.D. & I & PH Workers Union affiliated to INTUC of Distt. Bilaspur and is also Vice President of the State. Since the activities of the Union and the Organization of workers have created dissatisfaction in the minds of the Political Leaders of the government particularly because of raising of various instances of misappropriation, embezzlement and corruption against some departmental officers by the applicant therefore, the political leaders of the ruling party are bent upon to harass the applicant. As a consequence the applicant was subjected to various harassment by respondent 3 and 4 and was shifted from Store Baner. Apart from wrongly showing him absent and calling of his explanation his salary for October 2003 to January 2003 has been stopped. The shifting of the applicant from Store Baner to National Highway Pandon, Division is also out of Circle. Thus according to the applicant the impugned transfer is mala -fide, illegal, arbitrary and unconstrained, hence liable to be quashed.

(3.) The respondents filed reply raising the preliminary objection that this application is not maintainable in the present form and the applicant has no cause of action on merits it has been claimed that the applicant is a work charged Beldar. However, in the exigency of service in 1996 he was offered the work of Chowkidar in Baner Section but his engagement continued to be that of work charged Beldar the pay scales of work charged Beldar and work charged Chowkidar are similar but nature of their duties is different. However on sanction of post of Beldars and Chowkidars in 2003 one Jagdish was posted as a regular Chowkidar. Thereafter there was no justification to continue the temporary engagement of the applicant as Chowkidar. The applicant was therefore, directed in October 2003 to revert back to his original post i.e. work charged Beldar by the junior Engineer as also by the Assistant Engineer Swarghat. However, the applicant who is a shirker to perform physical work evaded the directions and failed to report for work whereupon he was served with show cause notice thereafter with a charge sheet. Since the applicant did not report for work during the period October 2003 to May 2004, therefore, his wages for that period has been withheld.