IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARANCHAL AT NAINITAL WRIT PETITION NO. 256 (SS) OF 2006 1. T.P.Uniyal, S/o ate Sri T.R. Uniyal, 2. Gokul Singh, S/o late Sri Kundan Singh, 3. Vijay Narain Uniyal, S/o Sri S.N.P. Uniyal, 4. Ram Jatan, S/o late Sri Mohit, All posted as Junior Engineer, In the department of M/s Garhwal Mandal, Vikas Nigam Ltd. Dehradun. ....…Petitioner Versus 1. State of Uttaranchal, through Principal Secretary, Tourism, Uttaranchal Shasan Dehradun. 2. M/s Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, through its Managing Director, 74/1, Rajpur Road, Dehradun. 3. General Manager (Administration), M/s Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Dehradun, 74/1 Rajpur Road, Dehradun. ………….Respondents. Sri Gopal Narain, Advocate for the petitioner. Learned Standing Counsel for the State. Dated: 02.03.2006 Hon’ble Rajesh Tandon, J. By the present writ petition, the petitioner, has prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondent no. 2 to consider the promotion of the petitioners from the post of Junior Engineer Civil) to Assistant Engineer (Civil) by holding departmental promotion committee (D.P.C.) according to seniority list. The petitioner has further prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents not to promote any junior engineer who is junior to the petitioners and also belong to 2 reserve category on the post of Assistant Engineer (civil) as the vacancy belong to general cadres/category. 2. Brief facts giving rise to the present writ petition are that the petitioners were appointed on 05.09.1978, 25.11.1978, 16.11.1982 and 14.12.1983 respectively directly on the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) and since then he is working in the department of respondent no. 2. 3. According to the petitioners, they are working since their initial appointments on the post of Junior Engineer (Civil). The petitioners have submitted that the Assistant Engineer (Civil), who were working, some of them have already been retired, while three out of them, who were directly recruited are working and out of which one Sri Arun Dobhal had been sent on deputation in the year, 1996and since then this post is lying vacant. 4. Petitioners have submitted that after passing long years, the petitioners were informed in the year, 1988 and 1989 that departmental promotion committee is going to hold its meeting for promotion on the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil) but unfortunately the D.P.C. was not held. 5. Petitioners have further submitted that in the meantime, two posts of Assistant Engineers (Civil) had already filled by direct recruitment and later on two posts of Assistant Engineers (Civil) have again been filled through direct recruitment. 6. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that in the department of respondent no. 2, the total number of vacancies of Assistant Engineers (Civil) is seven, out of which one post is equal to Architect in designation and one post is equal to Officer on Special Duty in designation. All these seven posts according to the circular/government-order/rules applicable in the corporation belong to general cadre and ratio for filing these posts is 50% from direct recruitment and 50% 3 through promotion from the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) working in the department. 7. In the year, 1997, the respondent no. 2 again decide to hold a D.P.C. for promotion on the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil) from the Junior Engineer (Civil) but again it was not held. 8. Petitioners have submitted that one Sri B.B.S Negi, who was holding the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil)/Architect has already retired in the year, 2002 and one Sri G.L. Kandwal has also retired in the year, 2003 and Sri L.D. Sighal has taken voluntary retirement. Petitioners have further submitted that one person, who was holding the post of Officer on Special Duty, which is equivalent to Assistant Engineer (Civil) has retired in the year, 1996 since then that post is also vacant. 9. After the retirement of all these persons, the respondent no. 2 issued an order on 07.08.2005 by which the petitioner nos. 1, 2 and 3 have been given the additional charge on the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil) according to their seniority, while the petitioner no. 4 was given additional charge by order dated 25.09.2004 in place of one Assistant Engineer (civil) who worked on deputation since 1996. 10. The grievance of the petitioners is that they are senior most Junior Engineers (Civil) and are working in the department for about 20 years, but no regular promotion has been given to them till date, through the posts are still vacant in the department of the Assistant Engineer (Civil) by promotion. 11. The petitioners have submitted that they have come to know that the department is going to promote some Junior Engineer (Civil) illegally from the reserved category while all vacant posts belong to general cadre/category and cannot be filled by reserved category candidate, who belong to reserved category. 4 12. The petitioners have preferred a representation dated 27.02.2006 to the respondent no. 2 by which they informed that three posts which belong to general category cannot be filled-up by a reserved category candidate. 13. Liberty is given to the petitioner to file a fresh representation stating his grievances within a period of ten days. 13. The respondent no. 2 is directed to decide the representation of the petitioners-dated 27.02.2006 along with the fresh representation within a period of six weeks from the date of presentation of the certified copy of the order. 14. Writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. 02.03.2006 (Rajesh Tandon, J.) Rathour