Civil Writ Petition No. 10965 of 1992 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 10965 of 1992 Date of decision : 10.08.2011 Kapur Chand Singla ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH Present: Mr. S.S. Ahluwalia, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms. Ambika Luthra, AAG, Punjab for the State. **** RANJIT SINGH J. The petitioner is aggrieved against order dated 13.08.1992 (Annexure P-2) whereby promotion granted to him on 21.03.1991 has been cancelled without affording any opportunity of hearing and without finalising or fixing the seniority vis-a-vis respondents No. 3 and 4. Before the facts could be adverted to, an order dated 23.12.1993 (Annexure P-13) filed by the petitioner through miscellaneous application came to my notice vide which the petitioner stood promoted to the post of Senior Scale Stenographer w.e.f. 18.01.1972. The petitioner has also placed on record Annexure P-14, vide which his seniority was fixed above all Assistants. Counsel for the petitioner was not clear if he would still wish to prosecute the writ petition especially so when the petitioner has retired since 1996. Civil Writ Petition No. 10965 of 1992 The facts, in brief, are that the petitioner had joined the service of the State of Punjab as Clerk on 7.4.1960. Subsequently, he competed for appointment to the post of Stenotypist advertised by Subordinate Selection Board. After his due selection, the petitioner was appointed as Stenotypist on 6.10.1960. Later, the petitioner was promoted as Junior Scale Stenographer in the head office. One post out of the six posts of Senior Scale Stenographer in the head office fell vacant in the year 1972. The petitioner's case was considered for promotion alongwith other junior scale stenographers and he being senior-most was promoted as senior scale stenographer on adhoc basis on 18.1.1972. For all intents and purposes, the cadre of the petitioner was changed to stenographer and, thus, he was not considered for promotion in the clerical cadre. The service of the petitioner was governed by Punjab Public works Department (Irrigation Branch) Head Office Clerical (State Service Class III) Rules, 1965 (for short, “Service Ruules”). Promotion to the post of Deputy Superintendent later re-designated as Superintendent Grade II, which was governed by Rules known as Punjab Civil Service (Promotion of Stenographers/Stenotypists) Rules, 1961 (for short “1961 Rules”). Respondent No.2 promoted respondent Nos.3 and 4 as officiating Assistants on adhoc basis on 17.3.1972. This was on a condition imposed that they will have to pass the Assistant Grade Examination. There was no such condition in the promotion order of the petitioner, when he was promoted as Senior Scale Stenographer. Yet he appeared for passing the test, when given a chance and cleared the same on 14.11.1972. Civil Writ Petition No. 10965 of 1992 Respondent No.1, however, gave exemption from passing the Assistant Grade Examination to all Assistants/Senior Scale Stenographers, who were promoted on adhoc basis/provisional basis before 12.4.1984. Thus, all the Stenographers and Assistants provisionally promoted prior to 12.4.1984 were treated as exemptees from qualifying the Assistant Grade Examination. Earlier, the petitioner was given date of regularization of promotion to the post of senior Scale Stenographer with effect from 14.11.1973, the date he passed the examination but others persons promoted on adhoc basis were regularized from the date of their adhoc promotion without passing any departmental examination. When respondent Nos.3 and 4 were promoted to the post of Superintendent Grade II in the month of June 1990 without fixing the seniority of the petitioner and without considering his claim, the petitioner made representation on 8.8.1990. After considering the case of the petitioner, he was also promoted as Superintendent Grade II on 21.3.1991. This was again without fixing his seniority. As per the petitioner, a condition was imposed regarding relaxation of rules while passing the promotion order whereas the petitioner was not required to pass any examination and indeed had passed the examination on 14.11.1973. Even other similarly situated employees were exempted from qualifying the exam and were assigned seniority with effect from respective dates of their adhoc promotion. Yet the petitioner was promoted only with condition. The petitioner accordingly pleaded that he be assigned seniority with effect from 18.1.1972, when he was promoted and had continuously worked on the post. Civil Writ Petition No. 10965 of 1992 The petitioner also makes a grievance that this condition was imposed with malafide purpose to promote respondent No.3 as Superintendent Grade I, ignoring the seniority of the petitioner. To substantiate this, the petitioner has averred that the letter, seeking exemption, though was despatched on 25.4.1991 but the same was still in transit till July 1992. This was only to deny the claim of the petitioner and to give undue advantage to respondent Nos.3 and 4. The petitioner made yet another representation on 23.8.1981 followed by another representation dated 23.12.1981. Ultimately, representation made by the petitioner was accepted and the petitioner was given promotion to the post of Superintendent Grade II on 21.3.1991. On 8.7.1992, respondent No.3 was promoted as Superintendent Grade I. This, according to the petitioner, was illegal and was contrary to the rule position. The petitioner made representation. Respondent No.1 had stayed the operation of this order on 10.7.1992. The stay order was subsequently vacated and the request made by Chief Engineer for relaxing the rule for passing the examination for the petitioner was rejected. The promotion of the petitioner on the post of Senior Scale Stenographer was also interfered with. The petitioner accordingly has filed this writ petition. It is in this context required to be seen whether any cause is left with the petitioner to pursue this writ petition. As already noted, the petitioner had subsequently placed on record order, Annexures P-13 and P-14, whereby the petitioner was assigned seniority with effect from 18.1.1972 over and above all the Assistants, including respondent No.3. The petitioner is also described as Superintendent Grade I, meaning thereby he was Civil Writ Petition No. 10965 of 1992 promoted to this rank according to his seniority as assigned over respondent Nos.3 and 4. In my view, the writ petition filed by the petitioner may not survive at this stage on the ground that he has already been promoted and has retired since long. Still, directions are hereby issued to the respondents to consider the claim of the petitioner for promotion on the basis of seniority given to him vide Annexure P-14 with effect from the date it fell due, if the same was not allowed to him in the year 1993-94 subsequent to the filing of the writ petition. The writ petition is disposed of with the above observations. August 10, 2011 (RANJIT SINGH) rts JUDGE