CWP No.2480 of 2010 -1- In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: 11.02.2010 1. CWP No.2480 of 2010 Mahavir Singh Vs. State of Haryana and others 2.CWP No.2519 of 2010 Sarbjeet Singh and others Vs. State of Haryana and others 3.CWP No.2520 of 2010 Jitender Singh and another Vs. State of Haryana and others CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr.SK Redhu, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr.RKS Brar, Addl. AG, Haryana,for the respondents. PERMOD KOHLI, J. (Oral): Heard the learned counsel for the parties at length. The facts are being taken from CWP No.2480 of 2010. A common question of law viz. Interpretation of Rule 13.7 (2) (ii) of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934 (Hereinafter referred to as the Rules) as applicable to the State of Haryana and amended vide the Punjab Police (Haryana Amendment) Rules, 2001, is subject matter of consideration in the present writ petitions. Vide the amendment notification dated 28.06.2001 (Annexure P-1), Rule 13.7 of the Rules has been amended. The amended rule reads as under:- “13.7-Selection of candidates for admission to courses at the Police Training College- (1) List B (in Form 13.7) shall be maintained by each CWP No.2480 of 2010 -2- Superintendent of Police. It shall include the names of all constables selected for admission to the Lower School Course to be held at the Police Training College. Selection to the list B shall be made in the month of January each year and shall be limited to the number of seats allotted to the district for the year. The number of seats in Lower School Course in a year shall be on the basis of existing vacancies and the vacancies likely to be created within one year in the respective unit. 55% of the seats allotted to a unit in the Lower School Course shall be filled in on the basis of a competitive examination, 35% on the basis of seniority- cum-fitness and 10% on the basis of consistent outstanding performance in job/obtaining Gold or Silver Medal in All India Police Games/Duty Meet/National Games or exceptional display of bravery during the course of performance of official duty. Selection of persons against 55% seats in list/lower school, on the basis of merit shall be done by a Departmental Promotion Committee on the basis of:- 1. Examination of services and CWP No.2480 of 2010 -3- 2. A competitive test )hereinafter called “B-1 test) in: a) Prade; b) Law and practical police work; and 3. An Interview. (i) All constables irrespective of their educational qualifications shall be eligible to appear for B-1 test, if they are under the age of 35 years and have completed 5 years of service on 1st day of January of the year in which selection is made. However, if a constable belonging to reserved category who is recruited after attaining the age of 27 years as per Government instructions/orders then he shall be allowed to appear for minimum three consecutive chances after completion of five years of service even if he has crossed the age of 35 years up to a minimum of 10 years. (ii) All Constables irrespective of their educational qualifications shall be eligible to be brought on List B-1, seniority cum merit basis if they are under the age of 40 years and have completed 5 years of service on the first day of January of the year in which selection CWP No.2480 of 2010 -4- is made.” In view of the above amendment, 55% seats allotted to a Unit in the Lower School Course are to be filled in on the basis of the competitive examination, 35% on the basis of seniority-cum-fitness and 10% on the basis of consistent outstanding performance in Sports. Sub Rule 2 (i) further provides that all constables irrespective of their educational qualifications shall be eligible to appear in B-1 test, if they are under the age of 35 years and have completed 5 years of service on the 1st day of January of the year in which selection is made. Sub Rule 2 (ii) further provides that all constables irrespective of their educational qualifications shall be eligible to be brought on the list of B-1 test on seniority-cum-merit basis if they are under the age of 40 years and have completed 5 years of service on the first day of January of the year in which selection is made. All the petitioners claimed their consideration/selection against 35% quota prescribed under Rule 13.7 of the Rules and are in category 13.7 (2) (ii). Their claims have been rejected on the ground that they failed to achieve the minimum merit on consideration against 55 per cent quota. It is the common case of the parties that this rule came up for consideration before this Court in the case of Naresh Kumar Vs. State of Haryana and others, (CWPNo.7952 of 2004) decided on 05.11.2004. In the aforesaid case, on consideration of the aforesaid rule, a Division Bench of this Court has held as under:- “Since Rule 13.7 of the 1934 Rules, extracted CWP No.2480 of 2010 -5- hereinabove, clearly envisages the applicability of the principle of seniority cum fitness for determining the entitlement of a constable to be placed on List B-1 i.e. for being deputed to the Lower School Course, we have no doubt whatsoever, that given the minimum requisite merit/fitness required, the senior has to be placed on list B-1 as a matter of preference. The only justification depicted in the written statement for considering the claim of respondent No.4 as superior to that of the petitioner is, that respondent No.4 was placed at a higher level vis-a-vis the petitioner while adjudicating the relevant merit of the candidates. As noticed by the Apex Court in Lt. Gen. Rajender Singh Kadyan's case (supra), the comparison of candidates on the basis of merit is irrelevant under the aforesaid principle of promotion. In the aforesaid view of the matter, since it is not the case of the respondents, that the petitioner did not fulfill the minimum requisite merit for being placed on List B-1, we are satisfied that the instant writ petition must succeed and the petitioner, on CWP No.2480 of 2010 -6- account of seniority, must be preferred over respondent No.4 for being placed on List B-1 and accordingly for being deputed to the Lower School Course. In view of the above, the instant writ petition is allowed. The respondents are directed to depute the petitioner to the first Lower School Course which will commence after the pronouncement of the instant order. The petitioner shall, however, be treated as having qualified the Lower School Course as if he had been deputed to the Lower School Course for which the instant petition was filed. Disposed of accordingly.” Special Leave Petition filed against the judgment aforesaid came to be dismissed on 10.05.2005. On the basis of Naresh Kumar's judgment, certain more writ petitions were filed. One of the writ petition being CWP No.11940 of 2005 was taken up for disposal by a learned Single Judge on 29.11.2006 who examined Rule 13.7 of the Rules as also the above mentioned judgment of the Division Bench affirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. However, the learned Single Judge was of the opinion that sub Rule (4) of Rule 13.7 was not brought before the notice of the Division Bench and referred the matter for consideration by a Division Bench. On reference being CWP No.2480 of 2010 -7- made, the matter was again examined by a Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 14.05.2008. The Division Bench of this Court affirmed the judgment in Naresh Kumar's case by taking note of the Haryana government Instructions dated 13.02.2007. The relevant observations of the Division Bench are as follows:- “The directions given by this Court in Naresh Kumar's case (supra) have virtually been accepted by the State of Haryana, by issuing instructions on 13.2.2007. Relevant portion of the instructions, referred to above, reads thus:- “3. In view of the Hon'ble High Court Judgment in the Naresh Kumar's case (supra), it has been decided to fix the bench mark for fitness under 35% seniority cum fitness quota. The assessment of service record should be made on the basis of education, training courses passed, commendation certificates and length of service etc. as given in PPR 13.7. All the candidates who obtain a minimum 31 marks or more would be deemed to be fit for selection of B-1 seats against 35% quota on the basis of inter-se-seniority of the candidates and for all such candidates inter-se-seniority would be the sole criteria for deputing on their turn under CWP No.2480 of 2010 -8- 35% quota in view of the explicit orders of High Court. Please take further necessary action accordingly. In view of facts mentioned above, these writ petitions are allowed in the same terms as in Naresh Kumar's case (supra). The respondents are directed to depute the petitioner(s) to the first Lower School Course, which will commence after the pronouncement of judgment in this case. However, the petitioner shall be deemed to have qualified in the Lower School Course from the date when other constables have qualified, whose names were approved to undergo Lower School Course vide select list Annexure P/1. It is made clear that if by getting retrospective date of passing the Lower School Course, the petitioner became eligible for promotion, the he will get only deemed benefits without getting any actual financial benefits, in view of the principle of “no work no pay”, as laid down by their Lordships of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India and another Vs. Tarsem Lal and others (2006) 10 Supreme Court Cases, 145.” CWP No.2480 of 2010 -9- In view of the above, the issue involved in the present writ petitions is squarely covered by the aforesaid judgments. All these petitions are, accordingly, allowed in terms of the judgments mentioned above. The petitioners are also held entitled to the same relief. A copy of this order be placed on the record of each connected file. 11.02.2010 (PERMOD KOHLI) BLS JUDGE Whether to be referred to the Reporter? NO