C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 [ 1 ] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 Date of Decision: July 26, 2011 Om Parkash Jindal ..................................... Petitioner Versus The State of Punjab and others ............... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Ms. Justice Ritu Bahri 1.To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present: Mr. A.K.Walia, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Ram Lal Gupta, Addl. A.G. Punjab. ... RITU BAHRI, J. Petitioner is seeking a writ of Certiorari for quashing the letter dated 18.6.2009 (Annexure P-11) whereby names of Kanungoos have been called for one post of Naib Tehsildar and a declaration that the post which fell vacant on 31.5.2009 shall be filled up from amongst qualified District Revenue Accountants in Faridkot Division. The precise question to be decided in this writ petition is that - Whether the post of Naib Tehsildar which C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 [ 2 ] has fallen vacant on 31.5.2009 is required to be filled from amongst the District Revenue Accountants under Rule 7 of the Punjab Naib Tehsildars (Class-III) Service Rules 1984 or from Kanungos? The petitioner joined the service as Clerk on 5.7.1983 in the office of Deputy Commissioner Sangrur. Thereafter, he was transferred to District Fatehgarh Sahib on 4.6.1993. After clearing the Assistant Grade examination he was promoted as Senior Assistant on 15.6.1993. After clearing the departmental examination, he became eligible to be appointed as Naib Tehsildar as per notification dated 4.11.1996 (Annexure P1). Petitioner was transferred to Faridkot Division on 23.7.2003 (Annexure P2). He was posted as Senior Assistant and joined his duties on 1.8.2003. At present, the petitioner is working as Senior Assistant. The post of Naib Tehsildar is governed by Punjab Naib Tehsildars (Class-III) Service Rules 1984. Rule 10 and 11 of the said Rules prescribe the nature of competitive examinations which are to be conducted for eligible candidates to be appointed as Naib Tehsildar whether by way of direct recruitment or by way of promotion. Rule 7 prescribes that 50% appointments shall be made by direct and 50% by promotion from amongst officials working in that Division under the control of Department of Revenue C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 [ 3 ] and Rehabilitation who have passed the departmental examination. District Kanungo and District Revenue Account should have an experience of 5 years. Kanungo who has worked as such for 5 years and out of these five years should have worked as Field Kanungo for a minimum period of two years. Three Registers are to be maintained as per Rule 8 from where the promotions to the post of Naib Tehsildars are made in the 50% quota for promotees. In Register 'A' names of the candidates by direct recruitment are to be mentioned in order of merit assigned to them. In Registers 'B', 'C' and 'D' names of the candidates who are eligible to be appointed from the promotion quota have to be mentioned. As per Rule 9 the roster points have been given in relation to the four Registers A, B, C and D. Provision has been made that in case no candidate is available from a particular Register, temporarily posts can be filled from amongst candidates borne in any other Register. As per Rule 12 the Deputy Commissioner has to analyse every year names of the officials from the category of persons who have passed the departmental examination whom he thinks suitable for appointment to the post of Naib Tehsildar. The Commissioner of the Division shall consider all names recommended by the Deputy Commissioners and prepare a list for entering their names in Register 'B', 'C' and 'D'. C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 [ 4 ] Mr. A.K.Walia, counsel for the petitioner, has argued that Faridkot Division was created in the year 1996 comprising of Districts of Faridkot, Bathinda and Mansa. In this newly created Division the petitioner has made an application dated 12.9.2007 (Annexure P4) seeking the information as to how many posts of Naib Tehsildars were filled as per roster points from the category of DRA/SRA. The petitioner was informed vide letter dated 5.3.2008 (Annexure P5) that Shri Hans Raj, Naib Tehsildar, who was promoted from SRA quota was going to retire on 31.5.2009. Vide letter dated 11.9.2008 (Annexure P6) petitioner was informed that since 1992 no Senior Assistant having experience of DRA for 5 years has been promoted as Naib Tehsildar. As per Mr. Walia, roster point No.34 and 68 goes to the DRA quota and on retirement of Hans Raj, Naib Tehsildar, the post is required to be filled from DRA with requisite 5 years experience. Vide letter dated 18.6.2009 (Annexure P11) the Commisioner, Faridkot Division, has sought names of two Senior most directly recruited Kanungos who have passed the departmental examination of Naib Tehsildars for filling up the post of Naib Tehsildars. Mr. Walia has sought quashing of this order on the ground that as per Rule 7 (ii) (a) there is no separate quota for directly recruited Kanungos and promoted Kanungos. After retirement of Shri Hans Raj on 31.5.2009 this post falls into C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 [ 5 ] the roster point meant for DRAs. Since 1992 no Senior Revenue Accountant or District Revenue Accountant has been considered for promotion to the post of Naib Tehsildar. Mr. Ram Lal Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Punjab, has tried to justify the action of the respondents on the ground that after the Faridkot Division was created in 1996 there were 20 posts of Naib Tehsildars in the Division. It is admitted by him that as per Rule 9 roster point No.34 and 68 falls to the category of District Revenue Accountants. However, after creation of the Division as many as 12 Naib Tehsildars have been appointed and 20 were working at the time of creation of the Division. There were 4 Naib Tehsildars who were appointed from the quota of DRAs in the erstwhile Ferozepur Division. Out of the four, two Naib Tehsildars namely Balwant Singh and Nathu Ram Garg have retired on 31.3.2000 and 30.4.2004 respectively. Now after retirement of Hans Raj, Naib Tehsildar, on 31.5.2009 one Hukam Chand Deepak, is presently working as Naib Tehsildar in this Division. Since the sanctioned strength of Naib Tehsildars is 20, no post is available from the above quota to accommodate and give promotion to a DRA. Mr. Walia has argued that even if 20 posts of Tehsildars were allocated to Division Faridkot, 13 promotions have been made after the creation of Faridkot District which makes the appointments till No. 33. Roster point 34 has now C.W.P. No. 10088 of 2009 [ 6 ] fallen vacant on 31.5.2009 on the retirement of Hans Raj, Naib Tehsildar, and roster point No.35 has fallen vacant on account of dismissal of Shinder Pal, Naib Tehsildar. This factual aspect has not been disputed by the counsel for the State. As per Annexure P22, 13 appointments were made after creation of the Faridkot Division to the post of Naib Tehsildar. After the retirement of Hans Raj, 34 roster point has become available for promotion. The letter dated 18.6.2009 (Annexure P-11) is quashed and direction is given to the Commissioner to reconsider the entitlement of DRA to be appointed at 34 roster point and then re-start the process of appointment to the post of Naib Tehsildar. Writ petition is allowed. 26.7.2011 ( RITU BAHRI ) Rupi JUDGE