CWP No. 7371 of 2009 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 7371 of 2009 Date of Decision: 18.08.2011 Daya Singh and others ...Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ..Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURYA KANT 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. Whether to be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present : Mr. R.S.Ahluwalia, Advocate, for the petitioners. Ms. Sudeepti Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. **** SURYA KANT .J.(Oral) This order shall dispose of Civil Writ Petitions No. 7371, 8444, 14621, 15179, 19854, 14420, 14365 and 18022 of 2009 as common questions of law and facts are involved in all these cases. For brevity the facts are being extracted from Civil Writ Petition No. 7371 of 2009. The petitioners are working as P.R.Chowkidars in the respondent-department and they were appointed as such on different dates during the years 1980-1982. Their primary grievance is that the respondents are not regularizing the petitioners' services as P.R. CWP No. 7371 of 2009 [2] Chowkidars strictly by following the rule of seniority as directed by a Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 27.01.2005 rendered in the case of (Rakha Singh Vs. State of Punjab and others) as well as in a bunch of cases i.e. Civil Writ Petition No. 15544 of 2007 decided on 17.11.2008 (Annexure P-7). The respondents are alleged to be following the policy of pick and choose and the persons junior to the petitioners have been made regular ignoring the claim of the petitioners. The second grievance of the petitioners is that they are not being paid all the retiral dues on attaining the age of superannuation on the plea that they are not 'regular' employees. The respondents have filed their reply/affidavit and on a specific query put by this court as to how many P.R. Chowkidars have been employed and how many of them have been made regular, the respondents have filed an additional affidavit dated 20.05.2011. It is explained that services of P.R.Chowkidars have been regularized by following the rule of seniority only. However, some of them are still awaiting for the status of 'regular' employees for want of sufficient sanctioned posts. It is also clarified that a few junior persons have been made regular under compulsion due to the directions issued by this Court. The respondents have also maintained in their reply that the 'pension' and other retiral dues are being paid to the P.R. Chowkidars on their retirement irrespective of the fact whether such retiree is a regular employee or not. CWP No. 7371 of 2009 [3] It would be profitable to reproduce para No.3 of the affidavit/reply filed by the respondents which reads as under:- “ 3. That as per seniority list of Chowkidars upto 31.3.2009, the services of Chowkidars at Sr. No.1 to 140 have been regularized. The services of some of the junior chowkidars have been regularized on the basis of the decision of the Hon'ble Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 13511 of 1998 Amrik Singh and others petitioners from Sr. No. 1 to 19, CWP No. 14238 of 2003- Mukhtiar Singh and others petitioners from Sr. No. 1 to 7 and CWP No. 7229 of 2009- Jamna Dass and others-petitioners from Sr. No. 1 to 16 on the basis of sanctioned additional posts by the Finance Department with the condition that these posts will stand abolished on their retirement or death. The orders passed by the respondent Department in all the above mentioned three Civil Writ Petitions are attached herewith as Annexures R-14, R-15 and R- 16, respectively.” In the light of the stand taken on behalf of the respondents, I deem it appropriate to dispose of these writ petitions with the following directions:- a) The respondent-department shall again submit a proposal to the Finance Department, Government of Punjab, for sanctioning additional regular posts of P.R. Chowkidars. No substantial additional expenditure is likely to be incurred on the sanctioning of additional regular posts as the increments are already being paid full salary and pension etc. Such posts can be sanctioned subject to the condition that the same shall stand automatically abolished on the retirement of the CWP No. 7371 of 2009 [4] incumbent as it happens in 'diminishing cadre'. In case the Finance Department accords approval for creation of regular posts of P.R. Chowkidars, the services of left out P.R. Chowkidars (whether they are writ petitioners or not) shall be regularized against the same strictly on the basis of their seniority. b) As and when regular posts become otherwise available, the services of the P.R. Chowkidars against such posts shall also be regularized by following the principle of seniority irrespective of the directions obtained by a P.R. Chowkidar separately in his favour, even though such P.R. Chowkidar is not entitled to regularization of his services as per his seniority. c) As and when a P.R. Chowkidar retires on attaining the age of superannuation or otherwise, all the retiral benefits shall be released to him on the premise as if he was a 'regular employee' for this limited purpose. d) The direction No. (c ) above is peculiar to the facts and circumstances of P.R. Chowkidars only and shall not be taken as a precedent for giving retiral benefits to other employees and/or by other Government Departments. CWP No. 7371 of 2009 [5] This order, however, shall not be taken as a precedent for other departments/services. Disposed of. Dasti. (SURYA KANT) 18.08.2011 JUDGE 'ravinder'