CWP No.9064 of 1988 (O&M) [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.9064 of 1988 (O&M) Date of Decision: 07.12.2011 Dr. D.S. Gupta, Lecturer in Hindi, D.A.V. College, Sector 10, Chandigarh. ... Petitioner Versus Chandigarh Administration through Finance Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, Chandigarh and others. ... Respondent s CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN Present:Ms. Heena Talwar, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Sanjay Kaushal, Senior Standing Counsel, UT, Chandigarh with Mr. A.P.S. Seth, Advocate, for the respondents No.1 and 2. Mr. Rajdeep Singh Cheema, Advocate, for respondents No.3 and 4. ***** 1.Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? NO 2.To be referred to the reporters or not? YES 3.Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest? YES K. KANNAN, J. (Oral) 1. The petitioner challenges the communication issued by the Chandigarh Administration to the Director Public Instructions insofar as it makes possible the extension of selection grades only to Lecturers, who had completed 15 years of service in the particular cadre of the respective college and when the work and conduct of the officer shall be satisfactory as a whole. CWP No.9064 of 1988 (O&M) [2] 2. The petitioner's grievance is that he had been transferred on a resolution of the Managing Committee made on 29.05.1976, and the rule of seniority specifically spells out that when a teacher transferred from one college to another at the instance of the DAV College Management Committee, the seniority of the teacher shall be protected. A further reliance was made on the earlier instructions of the Education Commissioner to the Director Public Instructions, Punjab dated 02.02.1968 that spells out the entitlement to the revised scales would be on the basis of seniority as determined by the length of service of the person in the college and the exception would be where a person is “recruited from outside, who had joined on a salary higher than the minimum”, in which case, the total service as a college lecturer would be taken into account. The contention is that on account of transfer to DAV College, Chandigarh, he drew a salary higher than the minimum and the instruction that required the total service as college lecturer to be reckoned would apply to him. 3. The college itself could not be stated at fault since they were bound by the Government instructions. I find the impugned instructions are totally arbitrary. The exception, which is provided in the Punjab Government Memo dated 02.02.1968 issued by the Education Commissioner to Director Public Instructions ought to continue and the instructions that denies to the petitioner a right to claim his seniority by taking the period of service in yet another college under the same Administration, cannot be denied. 4. The petitioner is entitled to the benefit of the selection grade and the seniority shall be counted from the date of initial engagement in the College outside the Chandigarh Administration. The condition so far as it requires, the work CWP No.9064 of 1988 (O&M) [3] and conduct to be good is reasonable and I will find no justification for quashing the same. 5. The writ petition is allowed insofar as the communication applying the selection grade as admissible on completion of 15 years of service in the cadre of that particular college only. The 4th respondent shall make appropriate reckoning and submit to the State Disbursing Authority for claiming the arrears with the petitioner is entitled. The entire exercise shall be carried through and payment made to the petitioner within a period of 8 weeks from the date of receipt of copy of the order. DECEMBER 07, 2011 ( K. KANNAN ) Rajan JUDGE