GHULAM JEELANI SHAH Vs. STATE OF J&K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners in this petition have called in question Government order no. 437 -PW(R&B) of 2013 dated 29.11.2013 insofar as thereby private respondents 4 to 8 herein have been placed as Incharge Superintending Engineers in their own pay and grade. The petitioners have also prayed for issuance of Mandamus commanding the respondents to refer all the cases of stop gap promotions from the posts of Assistant Engineers upto the posts of Executive Engineers, including those of the petitioners and respondents, to DPC/PSC for consideration and clearance and issue orders for substantive promotions in accordance with rules holding the field. The petitioners have also prayed for a direction to the respondents to forebear from giving effect to the draft tentative seniority list, annexure P5 to the petition.

(2.) IT may at the outset be observed that the petitioners are grieving of taboo breaking by the official respondents when they themselves have been beneficiaries thereof without raising any demur. Relevant facts as averred in the writ petition are briefly set out hereunder:

(3.) IT is stated that the official respondents did not formulate any seniority list even of the officers in the category of Executive Engineers. However, the petitioners sought information under Right to Information Act which revealed that the respondents had prepared a draft tentative seniority list. In the said draft tentative seniority, it is alleged that the private respondents have been assigned seniority positions above the petitioners. It is stated that, acting upon the aforesaid draft tentative seniority list, private respondents 4 and 5 were placed as Incharge Superintending Engineers vide Government Order no. 514 -PW(R&B) of 2012 dated 6.12.2012. The said order was challenged by one Satish Kumar Razdan in SWP no. 2513/2012. However, the order was kept in abeyance by Government order no. 515 -PW(R&B) of 2012 dated 6.12.2012. During the pendency of the petition, the petitioner therein, too, was placed as Incharge Superintending Engineer. The petitioners have also made mention of some other writ petitions and Letters Patent Appeals disposed of by various Benches of this Court and the observations made by the Court therein which would be referred to later in this judgment. It is averred that unmindful of the displeasure expressed by the Hon 'ble Court and the mandate of law, the official respondents have issued Government Order no. 437 -PW(R&B) of 2013 dated 29.11.2013, inter alia, ordering placement of private respondents 4 to 8 as Incharge Superintending Engineers over the head of the petitioners.