SO 1 1 LPA No70f 1997 OSMl INTHE HIGHCOURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH LPeAeNo of 1997108MI Dateof Decisionll812010 KrishanLal Versus C Urban DevelopmentAuthority Respondent 0 0 LPA No53 of 1996 IOSMI I C5 RanbirSinghKatariaand others I Versus Z State ElectricityBoard 2espondent r1 LPA No of 1997 IOSMI I C45 JaspalSingh Versus a7 Z Urban DevelopmentAuthorityand others m espondentse CORAM HonbleMrl JusticeAdarsh Kumar GoeI Honble Mr Justice Alok Singh Presenta Mr C1 ChopraAdvocate for the appellant Mr IvS Sidhu Addl AG Haryana ALOK SINGH J 1 Since in all the three appealscommon questionof Iaw as to whether senioritycan be grantedon the basis of roster maintained for the of grantof reservationto Scheduled CastelScheduledTribesIOBC etc1 iS involved hence with the consent of Iearned counsel for the pattieswe p1 Il Parkash Om 2014.07.11 13: 46 JOYTI RANI 2016.03.28 15:58 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document 51 LPA No 70f 1997 O8M1 2 to decide all the three appealstogether 2 We take LPA No 70f 1997 as a Ieading case and we propose to decidequestion of Iaw on the basisoffacts in LA No 7 of 1997 3 By way of presentappealpetitioner IS assailingorder dated 81996 passedby IearnedSingleJudgein CWP No 9428of 1993 dismissing thewritpetitiontherebyclaimingseniority on the basis of roster maintainedby therespondent in recruitmentof membersof scheduied caste etc m 4 The petitioners claims that in accordance wlth the instructions 0 issuedby the StateGovernment which were dulyadoptedby the Board vlde C memorandums dated August6 1979 and May8 1981 respectively the seniority 0 of the members of the service has to be fixed in the order of reservationof vacancies in the 100 pointroster As the did not follow these Z instructionsthe petitioner submitted The Board took no action Hence thispetition rl 5 Claim of the writ petitioner was rejectedby the respondentby I submitting that senioritywas determined in accordance with the provisionsof 08 15 of the PunjabState ElectricityBoard Service of Engineers ElectricallRecruitmentRegulations 196 As per Regulation15 the vacancies W Z assignedto Scheduled CastelBackwardCaste classes under the Block system Il are so assignedfor the purpose of reservationonlyand are not intended in fixing interseniorityof the candidates 6 Learned SingleJudgeof thisCourt in the impugned judgment has observed as undeo The instructionsrelied upon by the Iearned counsel for the petitioners have been producedas Annexures Pe3 and P4 with the writ petitionThese instructionsdo not at all provide that the intereseseniorityof the persons appointed against the reserved vacancies shall be fixed in accordance with their positionon the 100 point roster The instructions appearto have beenissued onlywiththe objectof providing for and not for intereseseniority These are calculated to ensure that the members of the various classes for whom reservation has been made are adequatelyrepresentedin the service of the Board The rl 11 Parkash Om 2014.07.11 13: 46 JOYTI RANI 2016.03.28 15:58 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document 52 LPA No70f 1997 08M1 3 Boardis not to fix their seniority in that orde Still furtherthe pointhas been settled bythe issue of instructions datedApril 27 1972 by which it has been specifically that the purposeof the roster is onlyto provide for reservation It has been specificallystated in these instructionsin para2that these are not intendedfor fixing inteoseseniority of the candidatescontraryto their orderin the combined meritIist The validityof these instructions has not been questionedConsequentlythe contention 1 C raisedbythe Iearnedcounsel cannut be accepted 7 We have heard Iearned counsel for the partiesand perusedthe 0 C record I 8 Learned counsel for the appellanthas placedreliance on the C5 I judgment of Apex Court in the matter of P S GhalautVs Stateof Harvanaand e reportedin 199511RSJ 495 and arguedthat reservedcandidatesmust be givenbenefitof the reservationand theywill steal a march over some of the r generalcandidatesand getseniority over the generalcandidates 94 Learned counsel for the respondenthas placedreliance017 08 the dictum of Aiit SinqhVs State of Puniab reportedin 19971 SC 2009 ConstitutionalBench in paragraph 56 thereofhas observedas under e 7 In our opinionthere is no conflictin theprinciples Ialddown Z in these two judgments norIS the7e anythingwrongin the Qm aboveelucidationof the Iaw In Virpalit was not necessary for the Courtto go intothe questionwhetherany circular it gave seniorityto fhe roster pointpromotees eserved candidatesl could be treated as valid But in the AjitSingh which was an appealagainstthe Full Bench Judgmentin Jaswant Singh1989 41SLR 257 this Coun was dealing with a declaration made by the FuU Bench for of the PunjabcirccIar dated 19 1969 see para 29 of Full Benchlwhich positively declared that the roster pointswere senioritypoints That was whyin Ajit 4 Singh this Court had to consider the validityof such a Circular In Ajit Singhthis Court held that the declaration grantedlll the impugnedjudgmentof the Full Bench in Jaswant Singhon the basis of the Punjabcircularwould be in conflict withArticle 14 and Article 16 11 This Court had therefore to Ial down that any circuiar 0l 1 Parkash Om 2014.07.11 13: 46 JOYTI RANI 2016.03.28 15:58 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document 53 Ir L PA No 70f 1997 1O8MI 4 order or rule issued to confer seniorityto the roster point promoteeswould be invalicl Tllus the decision in Ajit Singhcannot be found fault with ll 10 It is settledpositionof Iaw thatin the event of two conflicting judgmentsjudgment passedbythe IargerBench shall prevailand shall have bindingeffect In view of thiswe have no hesitationto hold thatin view of dictum of ConstitutionBencIsupral View taken by Iearned SingleJudge in the m impugnedjudgmentdoes not requireany interference 11 The appealis dismissed 0 3 12 Copyof thisjudgment shell be kepton the record of LPA No953of1996andLPA No80f1997 9 1 1ALOKSINGHI JUDGE C IL e I IADARSHKUMAR GOEL I 08 JUDGE Reema 3 m 1 0 c9 9 1 Parkash Om 2014.07.11 13: 46 JOYTI RANI 2016.03.28 15:58 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document