BHANWAR LAL Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Shri Bhanwar Lal, the petitioner in this writ petition filed under Art. 226 of the Constitution, joined service in the former Mewar State in the year 1946. He was initially appointed as Roznamcha Nawis in the Civil Supplies Department of the said State, On 13th July, 1946, he was promoted to the post of Cloth Clerk in the said department and on 5th of Sept., 1947, he was promoted on the post of Sub-Inspector in the said department. On let of Sept., 1948, he was promoted as Senior Sec. Clerk in the grade of 60-4-80-5-150. Thereafter, he was posted as Inspector Civil Supplies on 11th April, 1949, and on 13th Jan., 1950, he was posted as Rationing Inspector in the Civil Supplies Department, He continued to work on the said post till 1954 when the Civil Supplies Department of the State of Rajasthan was abolished. Prior to the abolition of the said Department a list of the permanent officers and staff of the Civil Supplies Department was sent by the Assistant Commissioner, Civil Supplies, Udaipur to the Director, Civil Supplies, Rajasthan on 13th Nov., 1954 and the name of the petitioner was included in the said list. By order dated 2nd Dec., 1954, passed by the Assistant Commissioner, Civil Supplies, Udaipur, the petitioner was posted as English typist in the office of the Asstt. Commissioner, Devasthan Department Udaipur and since then the petitioner has been working in the said Department. A question arose with regard to fixation of the pay of the petitioner in the said department and after exchange of correspondence between the Government and the Commissioner, Devasthan Department, the Government passed an order dated 17th Nov., 1970, whereby it was directed that the petitioner was a surplus employee of the defunct Civil Supplies Department, Udaipur and he was absorbed as Lower Division Clerk in the Devasthan Department, Udaipur, with effect from 4th Dec., 1954 and that his pay was being fixed in the pay range of Lower Division Clerk, 60-4-90-EB-120 in the unified Pay Scale and on that basis the pay of the petitioner, on 4th December. 1954, was fixed at Rs. 66 per month. The petitioner submitted representations to the Government against the aforesaid fixation of his pay but the said representations were rejected and thereafter the petitioner filed this writ petition, wherein he was prayed for the issue of an appropriate writ, direction or order quashing the order dated 17th November 1970 and directing the respondents to absorb the petitioner and fix him in the grade of Subordinate Service Cadre of Inspector of Upper Division Clerk from the date of his absorption. In the writ petition aforesaid, the petitioner has submitted that he was a permanent employee of the erstwhile Mewar State and that in 1948 he was holding a post in grade of Upper Division Clerk I.e. 60-4-80-5-150 and that on his transfer to the Devasthan Department, he should have been put on a post equivalent in grade to the grade of Upper Division Clerk and that the order dated 17th Nov., 1970, whereby the petitioner was absorbed as Lower Division Clerk was illegal and void. In the writ petition, the petitioner has further submitted that on 4th of Dec., 1954, when he was transferred to the Devasthan Department, he was getting a pay of Rs 85 per month and that under the order dated 17th Nov., 1970 the pay of the petitioner had been fixed at Rs. 66 per month on 4th of Dec., 1954 which could not be done. The petitioner in his writ petition has also submitted that Sarvashri Chotulal Gupta and Shyam Sunder Lal Vyas, who were also declared surplus along with the petitioner when the Civil Supplies Department was abolished, were absorbed in equivalent grade and cadre but the petitioner was not so absorbed and that Shri Narayan Lal Shobhawat who was junior to the petitioner and who bad also been declared surplus, was taken on the post of Upper Division Clerk in the Devasthan Department, whereas the petitioner had been taken in the grade of lower Division Clerk in the said department.

(2.) In the reply to the writ petition filed on behalf of respondents, it is stated that the Civil Supplies Department was a temporary department and there was no permanent post in the said department and that the initial appointment of the petitioner being purely in a temporary department, there was no question of deeming 'him an employee of a permanent department. In the said reply it is submitted that as the petitioner was holding a temporary post, he was absorbed on the post of Lower Division Clerk, available at that time and there was no question of his absorption on an equivalent post In the reply aforesaid, there is no denial of the averment contained in the writ petition that Sarvashri Chotu Lal Gupta and Shy am Sunder Lal Vyas who were also declared surplus along with the petitioner, were absorbed in an equivalent grade and cadre. In so far as Narayan Lal Shobhawat is concerned, in the reply filed on behalf of the respondent, it was stated that he was posted on transfer from Education Department as Lower Division Clerk by order dated 18th Nov., 1955.

(3.) A rejoinder has been filed by the petitioner to the reply to the writ petition submitted on behalf of the respondent. In the said rejoinder, it has been pointed out that the Civil Supplies Department in the erstwhile State of Mewar had been created by order dated Oct. 21/22, 1941 published in the Mewar Government Gazette dated Oct. 25, 1943 and that the said order nowhere states that the said department was a temporary department. The petitioner in his rejoinder has also submitted that in his service bock, it is stated that the petitioner was a substantive employee and that the averment in the reply to the writ petition that the petitioner was only a temporary employee was not correct. As regards Narayan Lal, the petitioner in his rejoinder has pointed out that by order dated 13th March, 1956 Shri Narayan Lal Shobhawat, who was officiating Upper Division Clerk in the defunct office of the Assistant Commissioner, Civil Supplies, Udaipur, was confirmed as Upper Division Clerk in the scale of 75-5-120-EB-8-160-10-180 with effect from 1st April, 1950.