-1- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH ... Date of Decision: May 01, 2008. Dhain Singh and others ... Petitioners VERSUS Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited through its Managing Director, Panchkula and others ... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA. HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MOHINDER PAL. 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 ? Present: Mr.Ramesh Hooda, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.Naresh Bhardwaj, Advocate, for respondent No.2. None for other respondents. -.- MOHINDER PAL, J. The petitioners are employees of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (for short `H.V.P.N.L'), working as Sub- Station Attendants at various Sub-Stations under Circle Panchkula. Prior thereto, they were employees of Haryana State Electricity Board (for short `H.S.E.B'). On the bifurcation of the H.S.E.B into four entities, the H.V.P.N.L had taken over the -2- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. assets and liabilities and the employees of the H.S.E.B. The petitioners being employees of erstwhile H.S.E.B, their services were governed by the Recruitment and Promotion Policy of H.S.E.B in respect of Non-gazetted Technical Staff, which was notified vide Notification No.27/Reg-115 dated October 10, 1988. According to the said Notification, a Sub-Station Attendant was eligible for promotion to the post of Junior Engineer (Sub Station) provided he possessed minimum qualification of Matriculation with Certificate of Electrician, Wireman and Electronics from an Industrial Training Institute (for short `I.T.I'). Thereafter, the H.S.E.B revised its Recruitment and Promotion Policy of Technical Staff vide Notification No.34/Reg-119 dated March 13, 1989, according to which Sub-Station Attendants, who possessed the minimum qualification of Matriculation, were eligible for promotion as Junior Engineer (Sub-Station). The petitioners are eligible for promotion to the post of Junior Engineer (Sub-Station) as per Notification No.34/Reg-119 dated March 13, 1989. The H.V.P.N.L adopted the Recruitment and Promotion Policy of Technical Staff of its predecessor i.e H.S.E.B, as revised from time to time, and prepared the seniority list of Sub-Station Attendants, as it stood on June 30, 1999, an extract of which has been annexed as Annexure P-1 with the writ petition. Sub-Station Attendants mentioned at serial Nos. 1 to 62 in Annexure P-1, who had the qualification of Matriculation and some had also the qualification of I.T.I Certificate, have already been promoted to the post of Junior Engineer (Sub- -3- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. Station). The grievance of the petitioners is that they being quite senior as per the seniority list of Sub-Station Attendants, were waiting for their turn for promotion. However, the H.V.P.N.L issued Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2) and amended the Recruitment and Promotion Policy in respect of Non-gazetted Technical Staff, according to which 20% posts of Junior Engineers are required to be filled up by promotion on seniority-cum-merit basis from amongst the subordinate technical staff of all cadres, such as A.F.M/ S.S.A/ L.M/ A.S.S.A/ A.L.M/ S.A/ Lab Attendant/ Meter Mechanic/ Lab Assistant Helper Grade-I, Halper Grade-II, R.W.M/ T. Mate / Construction Mate/ Draftsman/ Instrument Mechanic etc., who have acquired higher qualification of B.E/A.M.I.E in Electrical / Mechanical/Electronics Engineering or three years Diploma in Electrical/ Mechanical/ Electronics Engineering provided they have three years experience on March 31, 2003 on the above posts in the H.V.P.N.L.. It is the case of the petitioners that the employees fulfilling the above-mentioned conditions/ requirements could be promoted to the post of Junior Engineer (Field) only and not any other post of Junior Engineer, such as Junior Engineer (Sub-Station), Junior Engineer (Test) or Junior Engineer (Carrier). However, Chief Engineer, Construction / O & M, H.V.P.N.L (respondent No.2) vide office order No.47/REG-104 dated January 30, 2004 (Annexure P-3) promoted 48 employees belonging to different technical Cadres including 18 Sub-Station Attendants as Junior -4- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. Engineer (Sub-Station). These orders have been passed in pursuance of the amended Recruitment and Promotion Policy for Non-Gazetted Technical Staff, which was circulated vide Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2). It is averred that the Recruitment and Promotion Policy issued vide Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2) is applicable prospectively and, as such, it shall be applicable only to those employees who have been recruited thereafter. The petitioners and the similarly situated employees are governed by the same Recruitment and Promotion Policy which was existing at the time of formation of H.V.P.N.L. In this petition filed under Articles 226/ 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have prayed for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2) and the office order No.47/REG-104 dated January 30, 2004 (Annexure P-3) promoting respondents Nos.5 to 52 as Junior Engineers. Further, a prayer has been made for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing respondents Nos. 1 to 4 to promote the petitioners as Junior Engineer (Sub-Station) from the date their juniors have been promoted. In the written statement filed by respondent No.2, it has been pleaded that after amendment in the Recruitment and Promotion Policy, respondent No.2 constituted a Committee consisting of Chief Engineer/ Construction O & M, Panchkula, Chief Engineer/ Construction O & M, Hissar, with Superintending Engineer/ Administration as Member Secretary in -5- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. order to fill up the posts of various categories of Junior Engineers, which attributed to the Direct Share Quota posts of Junior Engineers i.e Junior Engineer (Field), Junior Engineer (Carrier), Junior Engineer (Test) and Junior Engineer (Sub-Station). As per the decision of the said Committee, it was decided to fill up 48 posts of Junior Engineers on the basis of the ranking list and the committee resolved to promote 48 officials, who were working on the lower posts and were having the qualification of Three Years Diploma/ A.M.I.E/ B.E and the list of such candidates was cleared. No right of the petitioners has been infringed. The promotions of 48 technical subordinates against Direct Quota Share Posts were made on the basis of their eligibility, suitability and fitness as well as the technical qualifications by way of proper and systematic process and on the basis of the recommendations of the Committee. It has been further pleaded that in case 20% quota posts of direct recruitment of Junior Engineers allocated to the employees of H.V.P.N.L, who have acquired higher technical qualification i.e B.E/A.M.I.E/Diploma in Engineering remain unfilled due to inadequate number of employees available in this category, then these will be filled up through direct recruitment. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the records of the case. The grievance of the petitioners is that the Sub- Station Attendants, who were junior to them, have been promoted as Junior Engineer (Sub-Station) after the Recruitment and Promotion Policy for Non-Gazetted Technical -6- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. Staff was amended vide Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2). On the other hand, the case of the respondent-Department is that no right of the petitioners has been infringed because the persons junior the petitioners as Sub-Station Attendants have been promoted against Direct Quota Share Posts on the basis of their eligibility and higher technical qualifications. Obviously, it does not matter whether the higher qualifications were acquired during the period of service or prior to the joining of the service of H.V.P.N.L. If these posts of 20% direct quota could not be filled up by the H.V.P.N.L due to lack of requisite qualifications of its subordinate technical employees, the Department would have to fill up these posts of direct quota through direct recruitment. In that case also, the situation would have been same for the petitioners. Thus, the grievance of the petitioners that the persons junior to them, who had acquired higher technical qualification i.e B.E/A.M.I.E/Diploma in Engineering, have been wrongly promoted, is not tenable. The Department made promotions in a transparent manner. As stated above, a Committee consisting of two Chief Engineers and a Superintending Engineer assisting them was constituted for the purpose. No mala fide or allegations of any extraneous consideration have been levelled by the petitioners against the members of the Committee. The Committee filled up 48 posts of Junior Engineers from amongst the employees who were working on the lower technical posts and were having the requisite qualifications. The selected candidates -7- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. possessed the required qualifications and experience on the subordinate posts for promotion as Junior Engineers at the time when the Recruitment and Promotion Policy for Non- Gazetted Technical Staff was amended vide Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2) and they stood benefitted. The promotions against Direct Quota Share Posts were made on the basis of eligibility, suitability and the technical qualifications of the employees by way of proper and systematic process on the basis of the recommendations of the Selection Committee. No right of the petitioners for their promotion to the post of Junior Engineer (Sub-Station) has been infringed as the same remains intact against the quota meant for promotee candidates. So far as plea of the petitioners that as per Notification No.46/REG-199/L dated September 04, 2003 (Annexure P-2), promotions against 20% Direct Quota Posts of Junior Engineers from amongst the subordinate staff consisting of Cadres of A.F.M/ S.S.A/ L.M/ A.S.S.A/ A.L.M/ S.A/ Lab Attendant/ Meter Mechanic/ Lab Assistant Helper Grade-I, Halper Grade-II, R.W.M/ T. Mate / Construction Mate/ Draftsman/ Instrument Mechanic etc., who had acquired higher qualifications of B.E/A.M.I.E in Electrical / Mechanical/ Electronics Engineering or three years Diploma in Electrical/ Mechanical/ Electronics Engineering, could only be made to the post of Junior Engineer (Field) and not to the posts of Junior Engineer (Carrier), Junior Engineer (Sub-Station) and Junior Engineer (Test), is not at all tenable. Admittedly, the feeder cadres to the posts of -8- Civil Writ Petition No.4573 of 2004. Junior Engineer (Field), Junior Engineer (Sub-Station), Junior Engineer (Test) and Junior Engineer (Carrier) are A.F.M/ S.S.A/ L.M/ A.S.S.A/ A.L.M/ S.A/ Lab Attendant/ Meter Mechanic/ Lab Assistant Helper Grade-I, Halper Grade-II, R.W.M/ T. Mate / Construction Mate/ Draftsman/ Instrument Mechanic etc. Thus, it cannot be contradicted that promotions to the posts of Junior Engineer (Carrier), Junior Engineer (Sub-Station), Junior Engineer (Field) and Junior Engineer (Test) against 20% direct quota posts were to be made from amongst the junior technical staff consisting of all the feeder cadres, mentioned above. For the aforesaid reasons, we do not find any reasonable ground to interfere in exercise of writ jurisdiction of this Court. This petition is accordingly dismissed. ( HEMANT GUPTA ) ( MOHINDER PAL ) JUDGE JUDGE May 01, 2008. ak