C.W.P. No.4905 of 2007 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.4905 of 2007 DATE OF DECISION: MAY 14, 2009 Raj Pal and others .....PETITIONERS Versus The Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary to Government Haryana, Power Department-cum-Chairman, Haryana Power Generation Corporation, Chandigarh and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL --- Present: Mr.S.K. Sud, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.Kartar Singh, AAG, Haryana, for respondent No.1. Mr.B.S. Rana, Advocate, for respondent Nos.2 to 4. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. (Oral) The petitioners, who are working as Operator Grade-II in the office of Chief Engineer (O&M), Panipat Thermal Power Station, Panipat, have filed the instant petition for issuing direction to the respondents to consider and promote the petitioners to the posts of Operators Grade-I against the reserved posts of the category of Scheduled Castes as per the reservation policy of the State Government, as adopted by the respondent- Corporation. It is the case of the petitioners that all the petitioners were promoted as Operators Grade-II in the year 2001, and thereafter they C.W.P. No.4905 of 2007 -2- became eligible for further promotion to the posts of Operators Grade-I. It is further the case of the petitioners that there were 203 sanctioned posts of Operators Grade-I, out of which, 41 posts were to be filled up by way of promotion of the candidates belonging to reserved category of Scheduled Castes, whereas against these 41 posts, only 26 candidates of Scheduled Castes category have been promoted, leaving 15 posts of Operators Grade-I belonging to the said category unfilled. It is further alleged that against 82 posts of Operators Grade-I, which had fallen vacant due to the promotion of 82 Operators Grade-I against the posts of Junior Engineers (Generation), 16 posts of Operators Grade-I falling to the share of the Scheduled Castes category are also to be filled up. It is the case of the petitioners that they are fully eligible for promotion against those unfilled posts, but the respondents are not considering their claim for promotion in the reserved category of Scheduled Castes against those posts, therefore, action of the respondent- Corporation is illegal and in violation of the reservation policy of the State Government. In the written statement filed by respondents No.2 to 4, it has been averred that against the promotion quota posts, 141 Operators Grade-I are working against 113 sanctioned posts. Out of these 141 posts of Operators Grade-I, 119 Operators Grade-I belong to General Category and 22 are of Scheduled Caste category. Out of these 141 posts, the quota of Scheduled Caste category posts comes to 28, whereas the quota of Scheduled Caste category in the sanctioned strength of 113 posts of promotion category comes to 23. Thus, if the total 141 promotees working as Operators Grade-I is taken into account, then the short fall of Scheduled Caste candidates is 6, whereas if the promotion quota posts are taken as per C.W.P. No.4905 of 2007 -3- the sanctioned strength, then the short fall of Scheduled Caste candidates is only 1. It is further averred that the employees in excess of the sanctioned strength of promotion quota were promoted as Operators Grade-I vide order dated 23.2.2005 as a decision was taken with the approval of Board of Directors to promote some Operators Grade-II to the posts of Operators Grade-I against the posts meant for Junior Engineers (Generation). At that time, the petitioners were not eligible for promotion as Operators Grade-I, as they were not possessing the requisite experience of four years. It has been further averred that since already the persons working in the cadre of Operators Grade-I are in excess of sanctioned strength, no further promotion to the post of Operator Grade-I is being made. To controvert the aforesaid factual position, learned counsel for the petitioner sought time twice for filing the replication. Today, learned counsel states that the petitioners are not in a position to controvert the averments made in the written statement. In view of the aforesaid factual position given in detail, no case for issuing the direction, as prayed for in the petition, is made out at this stage. Dismissed. However, as and when any vacancy of Operator Grade-I of the reserved category of Scheduled Caste becomes available, the claim of the petitioners will be considered for promotion, in accordance with law. May 14, 2009 (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) vkg JUDGE