B R CHADGAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) EXTENSION of the reservation to the persons, who belong to the reserved category was granted to the petitioners vide Government Order No. 233 PW of 1995 dated 21.4.1995. In terms of the said order, the deemed appointment of the petitioners as Assistant Engineer was made with effect from 7.1.1985 and 6.8.1985 respectively. In respect of Assistant Executive Engineers, the deemed appointment was given effect from 11.11.1987. The tentative seniority list of the Assistant Engineers and Assistant Executive Engineers was issued on 25.4.1997 reflecting the seniority position of the petitioners at serial Nos. 133 and 138 respectively. The placement of the petitioners in the said seniority list was based on their deemed appointments as indicated supra.

(2.) IT seem that vide Government Order No. 370 -Works of 2002 dated 23.7.2002, finally seniority list of the Assistant Engineers (Civil) R&B Wing was issued, wherein the date of deemed appointment of the petitioners was shown as 1.12.1987. This final seniority list was followed by order dated 06.08.2003 of regularization of Assistant Engineers and Assistant Executive Engineers, wherein the petitioners figured at serial Nos. 186 and 202. This order was challenged in this court in SWP 1951/2003.

(3.) THE grounds of challenge in said writ petition were with respect to the grant of benefit of regularization of Assistant Executive Engineers pursuant to the re -organization of the Engineering Department in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The ground questioning the regularization of the Assistant Engineers was that private respondents were regularized with effect from 13.11.1987 giving benefit of reservation in promotion under the then existing Rules. It was stated that private respondents to the writ petition would not entitle to the benefit of reservation, as they were in a higher pay scale than prescribed under the reservation rules invogue at the relevant time. In nutshell grievance of the petitioners in that writ petition is that grade of Assistant Engineer was Rs. 1200 -1800/ - as per Government Order No. 455 dated 29.06.1987, which was revised to 2200 -3650 in October, 1987 as is evident from Government Order No. PW 972 of 1987 dated 29.10.1987. The J&K Schedule Caste and Backward Classes (Reservations of Appointment by Promotion) Rules, 1970 provides that a person whose grade was upto Rs. 3500/ - alone be eligible for said reservation. The sum and substance of total submission made on behalf of the petitioners was that the date from which private respondents have been granted benefit of regularization, they were in the higher pay scale, as such, not entitled to the benefit of promotion being member of the reserved category. Resultant affect of the judgment was that the Order dated 6.8.2003 impugned in that writ petition was quashed to the extent it has granted the benefit of reservation in promotion to the private respondents with effect from 1987. Interest of the petitioners in the said judgment was protected to the extent that they were promoted in the quota reserved for diploma holders, for which there was no dispute. The direction was issued in the writ petition for determination of date of regularization of the interested parties and their seniority has to be fixed in accordance with Rule, 24. In pursuance to the directions of the court, the official respondents issued the Government Order No. 168 PW(R&B) of 2005 dated 24.05.2005, whereby the seniority in terms of aforementioned directions of the court was fixed by the respondents. This resulted in exclusion of the petitioners in the regularization list. It is this order, which is subject matter of challenge before this court.