IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 5263 of 1992 Date of decision : 26.09.2011 K.S. Mathur .....Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana and others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH Present: None for the petitioner. Mr. Sunil Nehra, Sr. DAG, Haryana for the State. **** RANJIT SINGH, J. The petitioner has approached this Court seeking direction to decide his representation, which he filed on 18.06.1990. Alternative prayer was to appoint him to the post of Principal in any Government college situated in the State of Haryana. Having been appointed as Lecturer in Political Science in the year 1971, in Mewat College, Nagina, the petitioner was appointed as Vice Principal on 01.08.1975. The petitioner was appointed as Principal of the college w.e.f. 19.09.1975 but on probation. The college was taken over by Haryana Government on 15.02.1980. One of the condition was that only those members of the staff would be considered for absorption in the Government service, who were found suitable. They were to be treated as new entrants. The petitioner made a representation to Director of Higher Education, Haryana to urge that he be appointed as Principal of College Mewat, Nagina on being taken over by the Government. As Civil Writ Petition No. 5263 of 1992 -2- per the petitioner, his case could not be taken up for consideration for the post of Principal as the Managing Committee did not forward his case to the Government of Haryana. The petitioner then made a representation, copy of which is annexed as Annexure P-7. The petitioner had filed this petition when no action was taken on his representation. Written statement has been filed raising the preliminary objection to the effect that the writ petition suffers from delay and latches. The petitioner has claimed the post of Principal w.e.f. 1980 whereas he had filed this writ petition in the year 1992 after 12 years of the cause. It is also pointed out that the petitioner had accepted the appointment of Lecturer in the year 1980 when the college was taken over by the Government. Thus, the petitioner is estopped from filing the present writ petition because of his own conduct. Otherwise also, it is stated that the petitioner was not appointed as Principal and his appointment had also not been approved by the University. No one has appeared for the petitioner when the case is called. In view of the limited nature of the prayer made for deciding the representation, which the petitioner filed long ago, the matter has been considered on merit and is being decided. The petitioner, in the meantime, has also expired and the writ petition is being pursued by his LRs. The petitioner having accepted the appointment of Lecturer of the College on it being taken over by the Government, would be estopped from claiming the post of Principal due to his own act and conduct. Otherwise also, the petitioner has not provided any justifiable ground for appointment to Civil Writ Petition No. 5263 of 1992 -3- the post of Principal. There is, thus, no merit in the present writ petition. The same is, accordingly, dismissed. September 26, 2011 ( RANJIT SINGH ) rts JUDGE