M L GOYAL Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IT is admitted that the facts relating to writ petitions No. 340 of 1967 and No. 57 of 1969 are quite similar questions of law that arise in them because both the petitioners were recruited to the Rajasthan Administrative Service by a common competitive examination held in 1956 under the Rajasthan Administrative Service Rules, 1954. The petitioner in writ petition No. 51 of 1969 was recruited by the competitive examination held in 1959 All the three petitioners may therefore be said to be 'regular recruits', and I shall refer to them as such during the course of this judgment. The facts relating to writ petition No. 51 of 1969 are common with the other two petitions to a large extent. The three petitions have therefore been argued together by the learned Counsel for the parties and I shall, at their instance, deal with them by a single judgment as they are virtually companion petitions raising common questions of fact and law.

(2.) THE contentions of the petitioners, and the replies thereto, need not. be stated in any detail, because the petitions can be displayed of on the admitted facts, which are stated as follows in a chronological order.

(3.) THE first competitive examination was held in December, 1954, and the first regular recruits were appointed in July 1955. The next competitive examination was held in January, 1956, and the appointments were made in August, 1956. It appears that the State Government thought of making what has been described as an emergency recruitment, to the Rajasthan Administrative Service, and made the Rajasthan Administrative Service (Emergency Recruitment) Rules 1956, hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules of 1956' which were notified in the State Gazette dated June 4, 1956. Rule 23 of the Rules of 1956 dealt with the question of seniority of the emergency recruits. Appointments on the basis of the competitive examination held in January, 1956, were made after the publication of the Rules of 1956, in August, 1956. The first emergency appointments under the Rules of 1956 were made on July 10, 1957 An interlaced seniority list of the officers of the Rajasthan and Ajmer States, including the regular recruits, was issued on September 30, 1957. The name of petitioner M.L. Goyal appeared in that list at No. 267, while the name of petitioner S.C. Pagoria appeared at No. 288. The list did not contain the names of the emergency recruits appointed on July 10, 1957. An amendment was then made in the aforesaid Rule 23 of the Rules of 1956 on February 11, 1958, by which the word 'respectively' was added in Clause (c) of the proviso after the word 'shall' and before the words 'be placed'. A combined seniority list of all the officers of the Rajasthan Administrative Service, including regular recruits and the emergency recruits of 1957, was published on August 14 1958, as on July 15, 1958 In that list the name of petitioner M.L. Goyal was down graded to No. 319 and that of S.C. Pagoria to No. 310. It appears that another seniority list was released on April 26, 1961. Then the Government issued Appointment Department's order No. F 3(11) Apptts(A)/60 dated August 22, 1961, determining the final seniority and the initial pay of the persons who were appointed to the Rajasthan Administrative Service by another emergency recruitment in 1960. This was followed by the seniority list of July 1, 1964 The petitioner M.L. Goyal submitted his first representation (Ex. P/IV) on October 4, 1958 and a second representation (Ex. P/V) on December 9, 1963. Both the representations were rejected on February 4, 1964. He again made a representation (Ex. P/VII) some time after February 4, 1964 for reconsideration of the earlier decision The State Government have taken the plea that this last representation is not available on their record Petitioner S.C. Pagoria submitted his representation (Ex. V) on October 4, 1958, and Anr. representation (Ex. VI) on December 9, 1963 Both of them were rejected by the Government by order Ex. VII dated February 4, 1964. Petitioner M.L. Goyal filed the present writ petition on July 3, 1987, while petitioner S.C. Pagoria did so on January 3, 1969.