LPA No.1129 of 2011 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. LPA No.1129 of 2011 Date of decision 19 .7 .2011 Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board . Appellant Versus . Gurdev Singh Pabla and another .. Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. KUMAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GURDEV SINGH Present: Mr.Vijay Kaushal , Advocate for the appellant 1. To be referred to the Reporter or not ? 2. Whether the judgement should be reported in the Digest ? M.M.KUMAR, J. 1. The instant appeal filed under Clause X of the Letters Patent is directed against the judgement dated 22.3.2011 rendered by the learned Single Judge holding that the writ petitioner- respondent has been given Current Duty Charge on the post of Sub Divisional Engineer in the appellant- Board. It is pertinent to mention that the petitioner holds the substantive post of Circle Head Draftsman in the appellant- Board. It has also come on record that two posts of Sub Divisional Engineers have fallen vacant on 30.11.2010 and 28.2.2011 during the pendency of the writ petition. Keeping in view the aforesaid fact, the learned Single Judge has issued the directions which reads thus: “ That being so and as agreed to by learned counsel for the parties, I deem it appropriate to dispose of this writ petition with a direction to respondent no.2 Board that in case any vacancy has become available in the promotion quota then let LPA No.1129 of 2011 2 the claim of the petitioner and/ or his senior(s), strictly in accordance with the Rules, be considered for promotion on regular basis against such vacancy(ies). However, if the vacant post is meant for direct recruitment, the claim of the petitioner and/ or his senior(s) shall be considered for ad-hoc promotion without conferring any right whatsoever on them till the posts are filled on regular basis by direct recruitment. Such an, arrangement would enable the petitioner or his senior(s) to draw the pay of SDE i.e. the post against which he has already been performing his duties.” 2. When the matter came up for consideration on 7.7.2011, learned counsel for the appellant had argued that there are persons senior to the writ petitioner- respondent like Ravinder Bhushan and Jagmohan Singh at serial Nos. 17 and 16 respectively whereas the writ petitioner- respondent no.1 is at serial No. 24. Accordingly, we have asked the appellant to file an additional affidavit disclosing the number of vacancies which have arisen for promotion under Draftsman Quota alongwith date of occurrence of such vacancies. A direction was also issued to disclose the number of persons who are senior to the writ petitioner- respondent no.1 alongwith status of the seniority list. Accordingly an affidavit has been filed. The factual position as disclosed in the judgement of the learned Single Judge has not been disputed. The directions issued by the learned Single Judge do not suffer from any legal infirmity because the appellant has been merely asked to consider the case of the writ petitioner- respondent no.1 for promotion on regular post under the promotional quota strictly in accordance with the rules. Moreover, in order to avoid exploitation at the LPA No.1129 of 2011 3 hands of the appellant in paying the writ petitioner- respondent no.1 lessor salary a direction has been issued to consider him for promotion against direct quota posts till the time direct recruitment is made so that he may be paid the salary of the post of Sub Divisional Engineer. The aforesaid arrangement is not to` confer any right on the writ petitioner- respondent no.1. 3. Having heard the learned counsel for the appellant, we are of the considered view that the directions issued by the learned Single Judge do not warrant interference of this Court as there is no legal infirmity. The judgement has taken into account equitable consideration of Current Duty Charge. The writ petitioner- respondent has been paid salary of his substantive post whereas he starts getting the salary of the post of Sub Divisional Engineer. There is thus no ground for admission of the appeal. Dismissed. (M.M.Kumar) Judge (Gurdev Singh) 19.7 .2011 Judge okg