THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION No.9822 of 2009 Dated: 23.12.2009 Between: D. Jeevan Lal … Petitioner And Life Insurance Corporation of India, rep. by its Senior Divisional Manager, Marketing Department, Secunderabad Divisional Office, Jeevan Sagar, Near Indira Park, Secunderabad-80. … Respondent THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION No.9822 of 2009 ORDER: The petitioner was appointed as a Probationary Development Officer in the Life Insurance Corporation of India by order dated 17.12.2007. This writ petition is filed seeking a declaration that the proceedings of the respondent dated 18.12.2008 terminating the petitioner’s services w.e.f. 18.12.2008 on the ground that he failed to fulfil the prescribed norms during the probationary period as arbitrary and illegal. I have heard the leaned counsel for both the parties and perused the material on record. The period of probation has been mentioned in the appointment order of the petitioner as under : 2. PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You shall be on probation initially for a period of twelve months from the date of your joining duties as a probationer, but the Corporation may, in its sole discretion, extend your probationary period, provided that the total probationary period including the extended probationary period shall not exceed 24 months counted from the commencement of the probationary appointment. During the probationary period (which includes extended probationary period, if applicable) you shall be liable to be discharged from the services of the Corporation without any notice and without any cause being assigned. That apart, Clause 10 of the appointment order prescribed the minimum business as under : 10. MINIMUM BUSINESS: (i ) During the probationary period you shall secure through the agents recruited at your instance minimum Scheduled First Year Premium Income of not less than Rs.9 Lakhs provided, however, that in case the pay and/or allowance admissible to you, under Clause 1 are increased during the period, the minimum business and the premium income which you should secure shall be increased proportionately. (ii) The minimum business set out in (i) shall be spread over not less than 450 lives and shall be secured regularly through a network of dependable agencies. (iii) You will be required to recruit minimum of 35 agents out of which 30 agents should have become active, 20 agents should individually have put in during that period the minimum business required of them in any agency year according to Rule (9) of the LIC of India (Agents) Rules, 1972 and 15 agents should become Productive agents i.e., one who has completed either at lest 20 lives or 12 lives with Scheduled First Year Premium Income of Rs.1,00,000/- in the agency year. (iv) If your probationary period is extended, you shall secure during the extended period such business as may be intimated to you. It is pleaded by the petitioner that though he had engaged 25 agents there was shortfall in the achievement of the prescribed target due to the rescission and slumpness in the market. It is contended that the respondent was very well aware of the circumstances and granted extension of probationary period to 9 other similarly situated Probationary Development Officers extending the period of probation by 6 months. However, such extension has not been granted to the petitioner without there being any justifiable reason. Thus it is contended that the action of the respondents is arbitrary, illegal and discriminatory. In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents, it is stated that the services of the petitioner were rightly terminated since he had failed to fulfil prescribed norms during the probationary period. However, the specific plea of the petitioner that the period of probation has been extended by 6 months in respect of 9 other similarly situated persons has not been disputed. As per the L.I.C. of India (Recruitment of Apprentice Development Officers) Regulations, 1999 (for short, ‘Regulations’) the period of probation shall be 12 months from the date of joining duties. However, the Corporation is entitled to extend the probationary period provided the total probationary period including the extended probationary period shall not exceed 24 months counted from the commencement of the probationary appointment. It is true that the petitioner could not achieve the target of minimum business prescribed and on that ground his services were terminated. In the normal course, such action of the Corporation which is in accordance with the conditions of appointment will not be interfered with by this Court. However, as noticed above, the Regulations empower the Corporation to extend the period of probation and such extension has been granted in respect of 9 persons who are similarly situated like the petitioner. The counter- affidavit of the respondent is absolutely silent as to why the petitioner’s request for extension of the period of probation on par with other similarly situated persons has not been considered. Even the order dated 4.2.2009 passed by the Zonal Manager of the Corporation was silent about the extension granted in favour of other similarly situated officers. It is the specific case of the petitioner that there was no adverse remark at any point of time about his conduct and the work habits. The periodical work assessments placed before this Court which are certified by the Senior Branch Manager substantiate the petitioner’s plea. In the circumstances, I deem it appropriate to dispose of the Writ Petition with a direction to the respondent to consider the case of the petitioner for extension of the period of probation on par with other similarly situated Probationary Development Officers and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this order. Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. ____________ G.ROHINI, J. Dt. 23.12.2009 gbs