IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA. CWP No.4863 of 2009 . Decided on: March 16, 2010 O.P. Anand. ….. Petitioner. Versus State of H.P. and others. …… Respondents. Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kurian Joseph, Chief Justice The Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.B. Misra, Judge. For the Petitioner : Mr. Dilip Sarma, Advocate. For the Respondents: Mr. R.K. Sharma, Senior Addl. Advocate General, with Mr. Ankush Dass Sood, Addl. Advocate General, for respondents No.1 and 2. Mr. Ajay M. Goel, Advocate, for respondent No.3. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Justice Kurian Joseph, C.J. (Oral) The petitioner, who is Superintending Engineer, Mechanical Circle, Dhalli, Shimla is aggrieved since he is transferred and posted as Superintending Engineer (Mechanical) in Nahan Foundry. According to the petitioner, there is only one post of Superintending Engineer in the cadre and that is at Shimla. There is no promotional avenue either. It is also submitted that the post at Nahan is an ex-cadre post. Admittedly, the petitioner is senior Superintending Engineer, promoted in May, 2006, whereas the third respondent is promoted to the ex-cadre post only in November, 2006. The petitioner submits that normally the senior is not 2 accommodated in the ex-cadre post. However, we find from the reply that the Nahan Foundry Workshop has already been taken over by the Government and the post borne in that cadre has thus now become inter changeable. It is also submitted in the reply that there are some previous instances of such transfers. Be that as it may, we also find from the reply that Nahan Foundry was manned by a Chief Engineer and after the incumbent retired, the post was being manned only by Superintending Engineer. Still further there is a submission that since there is no promotional avenue for the Superintending Engineer, in the event of the Government considering the creation of the post of Chief Engineer, the senior will have to be considered. We have no doubt in our mind that in the event of creation of the post of Chief Engineer, the senior will normally be overlooked. Of course, there could also be a selection process based on merit-cum- seniority. It all depends on the rules governing the method of promotion. In view of the fact that the petitioner also has been continuing at Dhalli for more than three years and since transfer is also made in public interest, it is only appropriate that the petitioner joins duty at the transferred station. In order to enable the petitioner to make necessary arrangements for shifting household, we permit the petitioner to join his duty on or before 15th April, 2010. The petition is disposed of, so also the pending applications. (Justice Kurian Joseph), Chief Justice March 16, 2010 (Justice R.B. Misra), (tr/rks) Judge.