MAHADEO LAL Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a very unfortunate case where although the petitioner has retired on March 19, 1974, yet his lien has not yet been determined by the Government till date. The facts which are relevant for the disposal of this case stated in brief are as follows: The petitioner in the present case was initially appointed as Vernacular Clerk in the former Jaipur State with effect from Sept 2, 1938. Thereafter the petitioner came to hold various posts which need not be mentioned here, as I do not think them relevant for the disposal of this petition. When the former Jaipur State was merged in the State of Rajasthan, the petitioner was transferred as Personal Assistant to the Hon'ble Premier, as he was designated then, and was appointed as Office Superintendent with effect from November 3, 1949 after having been selected by a Screening Committee consisting of the Chief Secretary and the Principal Private Secretary to the then Premier. The petitioner worked as an Office Superintendent in the Secretariat from November 3, 194(sic) to October 27, 1952 and was put in the grade of Rs. 125 -10 -225 - EB -15 -350 in the Unified Pay Scale Rules, 1950 and was also given two increments in the years 1951 and 1952. In pursuance of the Government circular dated January 17, 1952 (Ex 5) and the Government circular dated May 21, 1952 (Ex 6), the case of the petitioner was referred to the Screening Committee along with other employees of the Secretariat. The petitioner was not selected by the Screening Committee and so he was transferred in the Maharaja College and then in the office of the CID Police and ultimately in the office of the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation, Jaipur in October, 1952. It may be stated here that the transfer of the petitioner in all the above mentioned departments was on temporary basis. In the office of the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation, the petitioner was fixed in the grade Rs. 150 -250 which was the grade of Office Superintendent Grade III. In the year 1956 the petitioner's case along with other non -selected Office Superintendents was referred to the Rajasthan Public Service Commission for screening in pursuance of Order Ex 10. By that order the Government directed that candidates for permanent fixation as Office Superintendent in various departments would be selected by the Raj Public Service Commission. In pursuance of the aforesaid order Ex 10 the petitioner's case was referred to the Rajasthan Public Service Commission which recommended the petitioner's name for substantive appointment in the office of the Superintendent Grade III on November 6,. 1956.

(2.) The specific case of the petitioner is that the petitioner was a permanent employee of the Rajasthan Secretariat and on being selected by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission he should have been substantively appointed as Office Superintendent Grade III in the Rajasthan Secretariat, but he was not appointed in substantive capacity in the Rajasthan Secretariat. On the other hand, the petitioner was shunted off to the office of the Collector, Jaipur and that too in officiating capacity From the office of the Collector the petitioner was again transferred to the Land Records Office, there, too in an officiating capacity. In the year 1957 the petitioner was sent to the erstwhile Electrical and Mechanical Department and then after he was sent to the Rajasthan State Electricity Board. In all the departments the petitioner was never permanently absorbed, but his appointment was made in officiating capacity. The petitioner further averred in the writ petition that the Deputy Secretary to the Government of Rajasthan issued an order on January 28, 1960 (Ex. 11) whereby it wrote to the Chief Engineer, Irrigation, Rajasthan to absorb the petitioner permanently, but the Chief Engineer declined to do so on the ground that the petitioner was never permanently absorbed in his office and so he was unable to substantively appoint the petitioner in his office. It has been further averred by the petitioner that he has been continuously making representations for his permanent absorption on the Rajasthan Secretariat on the ground that he was a permanent employee in the Rajasthan Secretariat and his lien still subsisted in the Rajasthan Secretariat. The Registrar, Rajasthan Secretariat, however, took the stand that the petitioner had no lien in the Secretariat and that the petitioner's lien would be either in the Land Records department or in the Irrigation department The petitioner thereupon approached the Land Records department & the irrigation department, but both the aforesaid departments declined to recognise the petitioner's lien in the respective department as the petitioner was never permanently absorbed in any of the department.

(3.) It transpires from the allegations made in the writ petition that the Registrar, Rajasthan Secretariat requisitioned the service book of the petitioner from the office of the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation, who while sending the service book informed the Registrar that the petitioner had not been absorbed permanently in any department and according to the Chief Engineer the petitioner's lien subsisted in the Rajasthan Secretariat. In reply to that letter the Registrar, Rajasthan Secretariat informed the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation by his letter dated November 12, 1964 (Ex 17) that after the merger the lien of the petitioner did not subsist in the Secretariat. The Registrar in his aforesaid letter observed that as the petitioner did not avail the opportunity of selection in the year 1954 on the lower post, the question of lien in the Secretariat did not arise. This copy of Registrar's letter addressed to the Superintending Engineer was supplied to the petitioner some where in the year 1967. The petitioner thereupon submitted a representation on November 14, 1967 wherein he complained that he was never given an opportunity of selection on a lower post in the Secretariat, although the per sons junior to him in the Secretarial had been given opportunity and they had been duly selected in the Secretariat. The Registrar, Rajasthan Secretariat thereupon addressed the letter dated November 1, 1969 to the Chief Engineer, Irrigation Rajasthan along with a copy of the circular dated February 1, 1954 which permitted the non selected Office Superintendents of the Secretariat to apply for the past of lower cadre in the Secretariat and inquired of him as to whether the petitioner was given the copy of that circular and his acknowledgment taken. The Chief Engineer, Irrigation in his turn vide his letter dated November 28, 1969 asked the Superintending Engineer to inquire and report as to whether the petitioner was informed of the circular dated February 1, 1951. The Superintending Engineer in reply to the letter of the Chief Engineer informed him that aforesaid circular was never received in his office and, therefore, there was no question of delivering the same to the petitioner.