KANHAIYALAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner was initially appointed in the Railway Service on May, 2, 1951 as a semi-skilled carpenter in the Carriage Building and carriage Repair Trade (hereinafter briefly referred to as CB & CR Trade) in the Mechanical Department of the Northern Railway and was gradually promoted to higher posts in the aforesaid trade. He was ultimately promoted to the post of Chargeman Grade (B) in a substantive capacity. By the order dated July 4, 1966 the petitioner was given an officiating promotion on the post of Chargeman Grade (A) in the grade of Rs. 335-425 (AS) purely as a temporary measure, pending selection in accordance with the relevant rules and since then he continued to hold the said post. According to the petitioner, the Railway Board also signified its approval to the officiating promotion of the petitioner on the post of Chargeman Grade (A) vide its letter dated December 27, 1966. As the posts of Chargeman Grade (A) in the grade of Rs. 335-425 (AS) in CB & CR Trade are selection posts, a Selection Board was constituted for the purposes of making selection for appointment to the aforesaid posts and as a result of such selection a final panel of selected persons was published by the General Manager (P), Northern Railway vide his letter dated June 15, 1970. In the aforesaid panel, one S. R. Srivastava was placed at No. 1 while the petitioner was placed at No. 2 in the order of preference amongst the selected candidates for appointment to the posts of Chargeman Grade I. Mr. Bhan-sali, learned counsel for the Railway Administration, has stated at the Bar that after the final panel of selected candidates for the posts of Chargeman Grade (A) was published, S. R. Srivastava, who was placed at No. 1 in the aforesaid panel, was promoted as Chargeman Grade (A) on August 12, 1970. As the petitioner was already officiating on the post of Chargeman Grade (A), he continued to hold the said post, even after his inclusion in the final panel of selected candidates for the posts of Chargeman Grade (A ).

(2.) IT appears that by the order of the General Manager (P), Northern Railway dated August 18, 1971 the group of posts of Chargeman Grade Rs. 205-280 (AS), Rs, 250-380 (AS), and Rs. 335-425 (AS), Foreman Grade Rs. 375 450 (AS) and Rs. 450-575 (AS) belonging to the CB & CR Trade were merged with corresponding posts of the Wood Mechanist Trade (hereinafter referred to as 'wm Trade') to form one combined Trade. In consequence of the amalgamation of the aforesaid posts belonging to the two Trades into one combined Trade, a provisional combined seniority list of the persons employed on the aforesaid posts in CB & CR Trade and WM Trade was circulated by the General Manager (P) vide his letter dated September 13, 1971 and objections were invited from the concerned staff in respect thereof. On June 25, 1972 the General Manager (P) of the Northern Railway issued an order directing that consequent upon the merger of the CB & CR Trade and the Trade all panels in both the aforesaid Trades available on the crucial date of merger, viz. August 18, 1971 would stand cancelled "unless the panelled staff in either of the trades were promoted to the selection posts in the respective trade and continued to officiate on the crucial date". As a result of the aforesaid order unoperated panels in both the Trades stood scrapped and it was directed that thereafter promotion of staff to posts in the combined Trade would be made on the basis of combined seniority list circulated vide letter dated September 13, 1971 and till such time that combined panels were formed in case of selection posts, adhoc promotions of the concerned staff on local basis may be regulated according to the combined seniority of the two Trades. According to the aforesaid order of the General Manager (P) dated June 25, 1972 the entire panel for the posts of Chargeman Grade (A): Grade Rs. 335 425 (AS) which was published on June 15, 1970 was treated to have been automatically cancelled on account of the merger of the two Trades. Thereafter a subsequent order was issued by the General Manager (P) in September 1972, in partial modification of his earlier order dated June 25, 1972 and it was directed that the staff who had officiated as Foreman (CB & CR) Grade Rs. 450 575 (AS) and Chargeman (CB & CR)/ (WM) Grade Rs. 335 425 (AS) in their turn on the respective panels against leave vacancies and operated the panel within its currency shall stand protected, and they shall not be required to reappear for selection in the combined cadre of CB & CR and WM Trades. Thus S. R. Srivastava, who had been given an officiating promotion on the post of Charge-man Grade (A) on August 12, 1970 during the currency of the panel relating to that post of CB & CR Trade, was protected- IT was ordered that the remaining unoperated panels of CB & CR and WM Trades would stand scrapped. This order of the General Manager (P) was based on the instructions issued by the Railway Board vide their circular dated March 9, 1967. The grievance of the petitioner, in the present writ petition, is that he also stood protected in accordance with the instructions issued by the Railway Board in their order datad March 9, 1967 and he should have been placed in the same category as S. R. Srivastava, because the petitioner was officating on the higher post of Chargeman Grade (A) even after the publication of the final panel relating to that post on June 15, 1970 and upto the date of merger of the two Trades, viz , August 18, 1971. The argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the final panel in respect of Chargeman Grade (A) should be considered to have been operated upon, so far as the petitioner is concerned, in the like manner as it has been considered in the case of S. R. Srivastava by the order of the General Manager (P) issued in September 1972 and the case of the petitioner could not be distinguished from that of S. R. Srivastava.