Case: (Ex) Capt. Randhir Singh Dhull Vs. S.D. Bhambri and Others

The petitioner is an ex- army personnel, his rank having been Captain. He served during the period of Emergency from 29-4-1963 to 1-7-1968 and also during the period of Emergency from 31.10.1969 to 22.9.1974, the total period of service thus having been 10 years, one month and 23 days before his appointment to the present post he is now holding3. The respondent no. 1 through the Haryana Public Service Commission by an advertisement called for applications that a combined competitive examination for recruitment to, inter alia, "A Class Tahsildar (Apprentices) would be held by the Haryana Public Service Commission at Chandigarh in March, 1973 in accordance with the rules contained in the Punjab Public Service (Executive Branch) Rules, 1930. The petitioner appeared in the said examination and was successful and as a result he was appointed to present post of Tahsildar Class II post.......... against reserved post/service for ex-services."4. There is a set of rules called the Punjab Emergency (Concession) Rules, 1965 (hereinafter `the Emergency Concession Rules). According to the petitioner he joined civil post on 26.9.74 and under Rule 4(i) &(ii) of the aforesaid Rules and the administrative instructions his services are required to be counted immediately on his joining the Civil post namely with effect from 26.9.1974, tagging the period of military services to the present post. But as respon dent no. 1 did not do so, he sent several representations to respondent no. 1 to give him the benefit of seniority, promotion, increment etc. according to the said set of Rules. The petitioner alleges that while respondent no. 1 did not tag the petitioners period of military service towards his seniority; promotion and increment, respondent no. 1 gave similar facilities to Capt. Phul Singh, Kewal Singh, Indraj Singh, H.R. Kapur and other respondents. His further allegation is that while he has been deprived of his dues mentioned above, respondent nos. 3 to 18, who were junior to him were promoted to be put above himAs the respondent no. 1 did not favourably react to the representations made by the petitioner, he filed a Writ Petition, being W. P. No. 1398/77, in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana but he withdrew it on a promise made by the Counsel of respondent no. 1. But as respondent no. 1 did not keep the promise he filed an application for review of the order made in W. P. No. 1398 of 1977. The petition for review was rejected but he was permitted by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana to file a fresh application. He then filed CWP No. 3584 of 1977 which was dismissed in August, 1978 by a single Judge of the said High Court. The petitioner filed Letters Patent Appeal from the judgment of the single Judge. The Letters Patent Appeal was also dismissed. The petitioner then filed a special leave petition before this Court. The special leave petition was also dismissed. He then filed an application for review before this Court. The application for review was also dismissed in limine. The petitioner then filed an application before t he single Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana for the review of his judgment but it was dismissed in April, 1979. Against that order a special leave petition, being S.L.P. (Civil) No. 4475 of 1979, was filed before this Court. The Special Leave Petition was allowed to be withdrawn by this Court with liberty to the petitioner to file a Regular Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution by Order dated 27.8.79. The petitioner has thus filed the present writ application2. This case has a chequered career. The material facts may be stated in a short compass.

Court's reasoning:
8. A perusal of the letter as per Annexure P. 5 alongwith sub-rules 2 and 3 of rule 5 and rule 11 of the Tahsildari Rules clearly show that by letter Annexure P. 5 the petitioner was merely accepted as a candidate for the post of Tahsildar. Annexure P. 5 itself has mentioned the terms and conditions of the service namely training, passing of departmental examination and probation to be governed by the Tahsildari Rules and Standing Order No. 12 as amended from time to time. A candidate had to fulfil the terms and conditions named in the letter before his appointment to the post of Tahsildar. The terms and conditions) to undergo a period of training(ii) to pass a departmental examination(iii) to undergo a period of probation, etcFulfillments of these terms and conditions by a candidate were conditions precedent to his appointment. Annexure P. 5 has nowhere mentioned that the petitioner was appointed as a TahsildarWe therefore have no hesitation in holding that he was not appointed to, but accepted as candidate for, the post of Tahsildar, by Annexure P. 5A perusal of the rule quoted above shows that the Concession in seniority is admissible (i) in respect of military services rendered during the operation of emergency only and not for any military services after the termination of emergency and (ii) only if the service in the military is as "enrolled or commissioned service in any of the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces." The military service of the petitioner from January 11, 1962 to July 1, 1968 and again from 31.10.1968 to 22.9.1974 was n ot during the operation of emergency in question. Further the petitioners service from October 31, 1969 to September 22, 1974 was not as an "enrolled or commissioned service in any of the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces." During this period the petitioner has been allowed the benefit of seniority under the Emergency Concession Rules by Order dated 14.12.78 of the Financial Commissioner, Revenue, Haryana in the followingn pursuance of provisions of rule 4 (i) and (ii) of the Punjab Government National Emergency (Concession) Rules, 1965 issued vide Punjab Government Notification No. GSR-160. Const/Art. 309/65, dated the 20th July 1965 as amended vide Haryana Govt. Notification No. GSR-182/Const. Art. 309/ Amd (2)-76, dated the 4th August, 1976. Shri Randhir Singh Dhull, a Class Tahsildar is allowed the benefit of service rendered by him in the Army during the National Emergency as an Emergency Commissioned Officer for the period from 29th April 1963 to 10th January, 1968 towards seniority and his seniority is fixed immediately below Shri Jaswant Singh Rajput among the A class Tahsildars. His date of appointment as Tahs ildar will be 27th May 1973.2. Further his pay is fixed at Rs. 450/- P.M. in the scale of Rs. 350-25-500/30-650/30-800 with effect from 8.2.78 (his actual date of appointment to the post of Tahsildar) and his next increment rai sing his pay to Rs. 475/-P.M. is 1.2.79. He will not be entitled to any arrears of pay as a result of the above fixation prior to 8.2.19783. The above period of Army Service shall count for pension only after Shri Dhull has deposited the bonus or gratuity received by him from military authoritiesThe petitioner has not been able to point out that any of the respondents No. 3 to 18 were given seniority from the date of acceptance. In fact none of them was accepted alongwith him by letter dated 13.9.74. The petitionersgrievance is baseless. Their cases were different. None of them was given the benefit of his service from the date he joined as a Candidate. The respondent in the counter affidavit asserts that not a single ex-army service Tahsildar Candidate has been allowed the benefit of military service from the date of acceptance as class A Tahsildar candidate14. The petitioner has not been able to make out any case of discrimination and violation of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The petition has no merit and is dismissed. We however leave the parties to bear their own costsWe need not examine the submission for two reasons:(i) We have decided the case on merit against the petitioner and (ii) the petitioner obtained permission of this Court to file a Writ Petition vide Order 5.9.79 in S. L. P. No. 4475 of 1979 (Annexure P. 1)