CWP No.17566 of 2006 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP NO.17566 OF 2006 DATE OF DECISION: 03.04.2008 Iqbal Singh and others .....PETITIONERS VERSUS Bhakra Beas Management Board and another .....RESPONDENTS CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MOHINDER PAL PRESENT: Mr.Raman Sharma, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. N.S. Bawa, Advocate for the respondents. HEMANT GUPTA, J. The petitioners have invoked extra ordinary writ jurisdiction of this Court claiming the scale of pay of the post of Clerk from 28.08.1998. The petitioners are the employees working with Bhakra Beas Management Board and are governed by Bhakra Beas Management Board Class III and IV Employees (Recruitment & Conditions of Service) Regulations, 1994. On 28.08.1998, the Chairman of the Board issued an office order deleting and adding categories of posts in Schedule A of the said Regulations. The posts occupied by the petitioners were deleted from CWP No.17566 of 2006 2 Group 11 and placed in Group 1. The said order was kept in abeyance by the Chairman of the Board vide order dated 29.11.2000 (Annexure P3). Thereafter, on 09.07.2003 (Annexure P4), an order was passed of merging the categories specified in the cadre of Lower Division Clerks by superceding the earlier orders Annexures P2 and P3. The grievance of the petitioners is that since an order of merger was passed by the Chairman of the Board on 28.08.1998, the petitioners are entitled to pay scale attached to the said post with effect from the said date. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, we do not find any merit in the present writ petition. The Chairman of the Board is the competent Authority to make additions, substractions or substitution of the posts in terms of Regulation 2 (1) (p), which reads as under: “2 (1)(p) “Service” means the service of the Board and shall comprise groups of various classes of posts shown in Schedule 'A' annexed with these regulations. Provided that the Chairman shall be competent to make additions to or deletions of or substitution of any post (s) in a group or add new group (s) in the schedule 'A' annexed with these regulations, when considered expedient to do so depending upon the workload.” The order Annexure P2 was passed by the Chairman in exercise of the said power on 28.08.1998 and in exercise of the said power again, the order was kept in abeyance on 29.11.2000. In exercise of such power again, the Chairman has passed the order on 09.07.2003. Learned counsel for the petitioners relies upon the CWP No.17566 of 2006 3 judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of N.C.T. Of Delhi and another Vs. Sanjeev @ Bittoo, reported as AIR 2005 SC 2080 to contend that the order passed by the Chairman to keep the post in abeyance and not to grant the pay of the merged post w.e.f. 28.08.1998 is without disclosing any reasons and, therefore, arbitrary. The creation, substraction and addition of the posts is in the administrative discretion of the employer. The order of additions and substraction is made by the employer keeping in view of the requirement of the posts and its financial applications. Therefore, the mere fact that once the order was passed by the Chairman of the Board on 28.08.1998 but kept in abeyance, will not confer any enforceable right to seek pay scale attached to such posts. It cannot be said that order of creations of posts in abeyance is arbitrary. The petitioners have invoked the writ jurisdiction of this Court after the order was passed on 09.07.2003 merging the posts. Having taken benefit of the merger and revised pay scale granted vide order dated 09.07.2003, it is not open to the petitioners to rely on the order which was kept in abeyance earlier. In view of the above, we do not find any reason to interfere in the writ jurisdiction of this Court. Dismissed. (HEMANT GUPTA) JUDGE ( MOHINDER PAL ) April 03, 2008 JUDGE jt