CWP No.565 of 2011.doc - 1 – HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH **** CWP No.565 of 2011 (O&M) Date of Decision: 25.03.2011 **** Sanjay Mahajan . . . . Petitioner VS. DAV College Managing Committee & Ors. . . . . Respondents **** CORAM : HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT **** 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? **** Present: Mr. GS Attariwala, Advocate for the petitioner Ms. Sudeepti Sharma, DAG Punjab Mr. TS Dhindsa, Advocate for respondent No.1&2 **** SURYA KANT J. (ORAL) (1). The petitioner is a Lecturer in Mehar Chand Polytechnic College at Jalandhar. He is aggrieved by the order dated 20.12.2010 (Annexure P7) passed by respondent No.2 expressing inability to consider the petitioner for promotion to the post of Head of the Department (Civil Engineering). (2). Learned counsel for the parties have been heard and the records perused. CWP No.565 of 2011.doc - 2 – (3). There is indeed no serious dispute that recruitment to the post of Head of the Department (Civil Engineering) is governed by the Punjab Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training (Technical Education Wing) Group-A Service Rules 2001 (in short, ‘the Rules’). Since the respondent-College receives 95% Grant-in-aid from the State Government they have adopted the Rules notified by the State Government. (4). Rule 7 provides for Method of Appointment and Qualifications and it says that “no person shall be recruited to a post in the service by promotion or by direct appointment, as the case may be, unless he possesses the educational qualification and experience shown against that post in Appendix ‘B’”. (5). Appendix ‘B’ of the Rules (Serial No.3) provides that the post of Head of the Department (Engineering) shall be filled in 100% by promotion. As regards the eligibility for promotion, the Appendix lays down as follows:- “(i) From amongst the Senior Lecturers Engineering in the concerned appropriate branch. At least five years experience as Senior Lecturer in the concerned appropriate branch OR Ten years experience as Lecturer. If the psot of Senior Lecturer does not exist. (ii) In case suitable departmental candidate is not available then direct recruitment can be made to the extent ot 25% of the total cadre posts.” CWP No.565 of 2011.doc - 3 – (6). It is indeed not in dispute that there was one Senior Lecturer in the Civil Engineering Department senior to the petitioner but he was not found suitable for promotion to the post of Head of the Department. The petitioner is next in the order of seniority and is working as Lecturer with more than 10 years’ experience. In my considered view if one reads the ‘Column of Experience’ as contained in the Appendix reproduced above, it is imperative upon the respondents firstly to consider a Senior Lecturer with five years’ experience for promotion to the post of Head of the Department (Engineering) and in case of non- availability of a Senior Lecturer the only option is to consider a Lecturer with 10 years experience and if such a Lecture is also not found suitable then only the respondents can resort to direct recruitment to fill up the post of Head of Department. (7). Suffice it to mention that non-availability of a suitable Senior Lecturer would, for the purposes of appointment of Head of Department, amount to non-existence of Senior Lecturer and in such an eventuality, the next source of recruitment i.e. a Lecturer with ten years’ experience is entitled to be considered for the said appointment. It does appear that the petitioner has not CWP No.565 of 2011.doc - 4 – been considered so far though he is also a Lecturer with 10 years’ experience. (8). The action of non-consideration of the petitioner’s claim, thus, runs contrary to the provisions of the statutory Service Rules. (9). For the reasons afore-mentioned, the writ petition is allowed to the extent that the respondents are directed to fill up the post of Head of the Department (Civil Engineering) strictly in accordance with Rule 7 read with Appendix ‘B’ of the Rules and in case a Senior Lecturer with requisite experience has not been found suitable, then the claim of the petitioner or any other Lecturer senior to him having 10 years’ experience be considered for promotion to the said post. (10). The needful shall be done with a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. (11). Ordered accordingly. Dasti. 25.03.2011 vishal shonkar (S u r y a K a n t) Judge