IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No. 5801 of 2006 Date of Decision: 31.10.2008 Mohinder Pal ....Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM : Hon'ble Mr. Justice J.S. Khehar. Hon'ble Ms. Justice Nirmaljit Kaur Present:- Mr. B.S. Jaswal, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. P.C. Goyal, Sr. D.A.G., Punjab for respondent No.1 and 2. Mr. Amit Jain, Advocate for respondent No.3. NIRMALJIT KAUR, J. The post of Lamberdar of Village Ishwarwar fell vacant due to the death of Hari Ram. On the basis of various applications received, Naib Tehsildar, Jalandhar-I recommended the name of the petitioner for appointment as SC Lamberdar. Tehsildar, Jalandhar endorsed the recommendations. The District Collector, Jalandhar, however, appointed respondent No.3 as SC Lamberdar vide his order dated 02-08-2004. Appeal filed by the petitioner was allowed by the Commissioner and he ordered the appointment of petitioner as SC Lamberdar. The Financial Commissioner C.W.P. No. 5801 of 2006 -2- set aside the orders of the Commissioner and appointed respondent No.3 as Lamberdar. Hence, the present writ petition. The petitioner-Mohinder Pal, in support of his merit has submitted in para 6 of the petition that he joined the Army in the year 1965. He is matriculate and retired as Subedar from the Army. He fought the battles of 1965, 1971 and Sikkim War and has been awarded more than seven medals, such as, Sangram Medal, Paschimi Star, 25th (1) Award, Army Medal, S.S.M. with Clasp J & K, Sangram 9 years Medal and 20 years LSM. He has further supported his claim, on the ground that he has 01 kanal and 15 marlas of land in his name and is maintaining a reasonable standard of living. He has house of 10 marlas. He is a member of Parent Teacher Association of Higher Secondary School, Village Ishwarwal and has been making donation to the Primary School. He has also donated 1500 plants for plantation and improvement of ecology in his village as well as the neighbouring villages. He has a decent bank balance. He is further supported by 194 villagers. The respondent on the other hand is 54 years old. He joined the Army in the year 02-04-1971 and retired from the rank of Havaldar which is a rank junior to the petitioner. Further, he was charge-sheeted in a criminal case in FIR No.111 dated 24-10-1999 under Sections 326, 324, 323, 148 and 149 I.P.C. and some of his other family members are also facing criminal trial. Further, it is incorrect that respondent No.3 is running a Dairy Farm. He has a very small house of only three rooms. Further, he is in the habit of taking loan and not returning. After careful consideration of the two cases, we find that the petitioner is definitely a better choice. The respondent has not filed any reply to the Writ Petition. Thus, he has not denied any of the C.W.P. No. 5801 of 2006 -3- averments made in para 6 of the petition. In fact, another application dated 08-08-2008 was filed by the petitioner, placing on record the FIR and the pronote/receipt dated 07-08-1999 to show that the petitioner was charge-sheeted in the FIR and further he is habitual in taking loan. He is under debt on the basis of loan, taken by him vide Annexure P-21. Some of the merits which give an edge to the petitioner over the respondent and which are not disputed are that the petitioner served the Army for 28 years, whereas, the respondent served for 22 years. The petitioner has number of medals to his credit, while the respondent has no such medal to his credit. The petitioner retired as Subedar Major from the Army whereas the respondent retired as Havaldar. The petitioner is financially sound, owns land, house and a decent bank balance, while the respondent has a standing loan against him. The respondent was involved in a criminal case, although, subsequently acquitted. His antecedents are therefore not above board. On the other hand, the petitioner has a clean record. In view of the above, the Writ Petition is allowed and the order of the Financial Commissioner dated 22-03-2006 is set aside and Mohinder Pal son of late Kirpa Ram is appointed as Lamberdar of Village Isharwal. (NIRMALJIT KAUR) JUDGE (J.S. KHEHAR) JUDGE October 31, 2008. gurpreet