IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.1401 of 2007 Date of Decision : April 19, 2010. Atinder Kaur .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Ms.Alka Chatrath, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms.Charu Tuli, Senior DAG, Punjab. Mr.Balram Singh, Advocate, for respondent No.3. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) The petitioner impugns the order dated 29.11.2006 (Annexure P-4) whereby respondent No.3 has been promoted as Assistant Director/ District Food & Supplies Controller. She has also impleaded respondent No.4 whose promotion to the afore-stated post has been assailed. The petitioner is working as a Food and Supplies Officer in the respondent-Department and she was considered for promotion to the post of Assistant Director/District Food & Supplies Controller as per her seniority. The petitioner has, however, been superseded while promoting her juniors, namely, respondents No.3 & 4 giving rise to this writ petition. The solitary contention raised on behalf of the petitioner is C.W.P.No .1401 of 2007 2 that the recruitment to the post of Assistant Director/District Food and Supplies Controller is governed by the statutory Service Rules, known as the Punjab Food & Supplies (Class-II) Service Rules, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the “1988 Rules”). The afore-said post is described at Serial No.1 of Appendix-B attached to these Rules. Appendix-B further provides that the post is to be filled up 100% by promotion “from amongst the Food & Supplies Officers and Superintendents Grade-I in the ratio 10:1, respectively, who have an experience of working, on either one or both of these posts for a minimum period of three years”. Rule 8 of the 1988 Rules provides as follows:- “8. Method of appointment and qualification:- (1) Appointment to the Service shall be made in the manner as specified in Appendix 'B' to these Rules. (2) No person shall be appointed to the Service unless he possess the educational qualifications and experience specified in Appendix 'B' to these rules. (3) All appointments to the Service by promotion shall be made on the basis of seniority-cum-merit and no person shall have any claim to any post in the Service merely on the ground of seniority. (4) When any vacancy occurs or is about to occur in the Service, the appointing authority shall determine the manner in which the vacancy is to be filled. (5) No person shall be recruited to the Service by direct appointment unless possesses knowledge of Punjabi Language of Matric Standard or its equivalent or passes test in Punjabi Language of Matriculation Standard to be held by such authority as may be specified by Government in this behalf from time to time.” (emphasis applied) C.W.P.No .1401 of 2007 3 It may be noticed here that in terms of Rule 8 (3) of the 1988 Rules, all appointments by promotion are required to be made on the basis of seniority-cum-merit, though no one can claim promotion as a matter of right solely on the basis of seniority. It is also not in dispute that the respondents have declared the post of Assistant Director/District Food and Supplies Controller as `Group-A' Post and as per their stand taken in the written statement, the promotion has been made on the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee which adopted the criteria of selection based upon merit-cum-seniority. The constitution of the Departmental Promotion Committee and the criteria of selection by merit-cum-seniority, was followed in terms of the Government Instructions dated 6.9.2001 (Annexure P-2). It is well settled that the statutory Service Rules cannot be superseded or supplanted by the Executive Instructions. It is not the case of the respondents also that the Service Rules have even been amended. It was, therefore, imperative upon the respondents to follow the criteria of seniority-cum-merit while making promotion to the post of Assistant Director/District Food and Supplies Controller as has been so provided under the 1988 Rules. For the reasons afore-stated, the writ petition is allowed and while setting aside the supersession of the petitioner, the respondents are directed to re-consider her claim for promotion to the post of Assistant Director/District Food and Supplies Controller, with effect from the date when the vacancies occurred and/or her juniors have been promoted. C.W.P.No .1401 of 2007 4 Suffice it to say that if the petitioner is found suitable for promotion on the principle of seniority-cum-merit, she shall be granted due promotion with all the consequential benefits. The needful shall be done within a period of four months from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order. Dasti. April 19, 2010 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE