C.W.P No. 7286 of 2002 (O&M) ::1:: IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P No. 7286 of 2002 (O&M) Date of decision : October 23, 2008 Pushpinder Kumar and others ...... Petitioner (s) v. The State of Punjab and others ...... Respondent(s) *** CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI *** Present : Mr. N.K.Suneja, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr.Anil Sharma, Sr. DAG Punjab *** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers 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 ? *** AJAY TEWARI, J The present writ petition has been filed on the allegations that the petitioners were all oustees of Ranjit Sagar Dam Project, whose lands, houses etc. were acquired for the same. At the time when the project was set up, the respondent-State of Punjab entered into separate agreements with the States of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. As per clause 9 of the agreement 15% of the entire personnel required for irrigation and power site construction and operation of the Thein Dam (i.e Ranjit Sagar Dam renamed lateron) in all categories shall be taken from J&K State. Further as C.W.P No. 7286 of 2002 (O&M) ::2:: per clause 10 the constitution and operation of Thein Dam shall be responsibility of the Punjab Government thereby the appointment etc. are to be made by the respondents. As per clause 12, it was made obligatory to give immediate employment to the displaced persons. However, for one reason or the other, employment was not given to the petitioners. Some of the petitioners originally filed CWP No.8773 of 2000, which was disposed of by this Court by order dated 17.1.2002 (Annexure P-1) with the following directions :- “...... In view of the reply filed by the respondents, we dispose of the writ petition with a direction to respondent No.3 to consider the names of all those petitioners who are eligible and finalise the matter expeditiously but no latter than three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. As regards those who have been found ineligible, respondent no.3 is directed to furnish to him the reasons as to why they are ineligible and the needful be done within the aforesaid period.” As per the above directions, the petitioners were informed that they were ineligible since their names did not figure in the list of eligible families. It is in these circumstances that the present writ petition has been filed. It has not been disputed either in the written statement or during hearing that the petitioners are oustees of Ranjit Sagar Dam Project as envisaged by the agreement. However, counsel for the respondents states that the said project has since been completed and, therefore, even if the petitioners are eligible, there is no job at the project. C.W.P No. 7286 of 2002 (O&M) ::3:: Counsel for the petitioners in response to the above argument states that even though with the completion of the project number of jobs may have come down, yet it cannot be said that there are no jobs at Ranjit Sagar Dam Project. He has drawn my attention to a letter dated 8.5.2000 (Annexure P-9) wherein the respondent-State of Punjab has written to the General Manager, Ranjit Sagar Dam Project to the following effect :- “ 1. It has been decided by the Government that each displaced person, who is to be given employment will be required to give an undertaking that he is prepared to serve anywhere in the State. Accordingly, before the case is formally taken up for decision, you are requested to get the response/willingness of each applicant to the question. Now that the RSD is complete there are no jobs and applicant may send his willingness/undertaking that he is prepared to serve anywhere in the State of Punjab.” As per counsel for the petitioners, a reading of the above letter makes it clear that the respondent-State of Punjab itself envisaged that in the event of jobs not being available at Ranjit Sagar Dam Project, eligible displaced persons could be accommodated at any other place. He has also brought to my notice a Division Bench judgment of this Court in CWP No.8903 of 2003, Dharam Singh & others vs State of Punjab and others, decided on 1.4.2004, wherein in the case of similar oustees the plea taken by the respondents was that there was a complete ban on recruitment. This Court allowed the said writ petition in the following terms :- “..... In the written statement filed by the respondents the C.W.P No. 7286 of 2002 (O&M) ::4:: stand taken is that there was a complete ban on fresh appointments and as the project had virtually been completed in 1998 making about 7,000 workmen surplus the petitioners could not be given appointment. We find that neither of these two issues can dislodge the petitioners' case. Admittedly, the petitioners are the oustees of the Ranjit Sagar Dam Project. They must accordingly be given priority in appointments over other candidates. We also find that imposition of a ban on fresh appointments is only temporary and will ultimately be lifted. We accordingly issue a direction that as and when the ban is lifted, the petitioners' case along with other oustees, who have a similar claim, will be considered and appropriate orders made.” In my opinion, the above decision covers the present case on all force. In the circumstances, this writ petition is allowed. The respondents are directed to consider the petitioners' case for employment either at Ranjit Sagar Dam Project, or as envisaged by the letter, Annexure P-9, at any other project in the State of Punjab and pass appropriate orders within three months from the receipt of a certified copy of this order. No order as to costs. ( AJAY TEWARI ) October 23, 2008. JUDGE `kk' C.W.P No. 7286 of 2002 (O&M) ::5::