Sweety Badwal And ORS v. State Of Punjab & ORS
Manoj Kumar 2017.05.10 12:33 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document #1#
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH 1.
Sweety Badwal and Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
2.
CWP No.19024 of 2013 Charanjit Singh & Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
3.
CWP No.20129 of 2013 Vinod Kumar State of Punjab and Ors.
4.
CWP No.19367 of 2013 Mewa Singh & Ors.
State of Punjab and Ors.
5.
CWP No.20243 of 2013 Jasvir Kaur ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
6.
CWP No.20410 of 2013 Lakhvir Singh & Ors.
#2# ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
7.
CWP No.20744 of 2013 Mohinder Singh & Ors ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
8.
CWP No.21073 of 2013 Harbans Lal and Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
9.
CWP No.21629 of 2013 Gurminder Singh & Anr.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
10.
CWP No.21728 of 2013 Lakha Singh and Ors ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Anr.
11.
CWP No.22677 of 2013 Shivalika State of Punjab and Ors.
12.
CWP No.25506 of 2013
#3# Manjinder Singh and Ors ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
13.
CWP No.26177 of 2013 Baljinder Singh State of Punjab and Another 14.
CWP No.26339 of 2013 Jasvinder Singh Garewal ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Anr.
15.
CWP No.26383 of 2013 Paramnjit Singh and Anr.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Anr.
16.
CWP No.27987 of 2013 Daniel & Anr.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Another 17.
CWP No.28302 of 2013 Lalit Kumar and Ors.
State of Punjab and Ors.
18.
CWP No.8845 of 2013
#4# Kuldip Singh and Ors.
State of Punjab and Ors.
19.
CWP No.14101 of 2016 Jagdeep Singh and Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Anr.
20.
CWP No.1302 of 2014 Salochana Rani ....Petitioners State of Punjab and Ors.
21.
CWP No.1177 of 2014 Meenu Dutta and Anr.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Anr.
22.
CWP No.1175 of 2014 Ajay Pal Singh and Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Another 23.
CWP No.13351 of 2014 Chamkaur Singh and Ors.
....Petitioners
#5# State of Punjab and Anr.
24.
CWP No.14136 of 2014 Manjit Singh and Anr.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Anr.
25.
CWP No.1651 of 2014 Sukhwinder Singh & Anr.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Others 26.
CWP No.1793 of 2014 Baldev Singh State of Punjab and Ors.
27.
CWP No.183 of 2014 Rajesh Kumar and Ors.
State of Punjab and Others 28.
CWP No.184 of 2014 Anil Kumar and Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Others 29.
CWP No.1881 of 2014
#6# Neeta Sharma State of Punjab and Others 30.
CWP No.1924 of 2014 Jaspreet Kaur State of Punjab Th. Principal Secy and Ors.
31.
CWP No.2538 of 2014 Kuldip Singh and Ors.
....Petitioners State of Punjab and Others 32.
CWP No.2807 of 2014 Suman Bala and Ors.
State of Punjab and Anr.
33.
CWP No.2949 of 2014 Avtar Singh State of Punjab and Others 34.
CWP No.2965 of 2014 Jaswinder Singh & Anr.
#7# State of Punjab and Others 35.
CWP No.3619 of 2014 Paramjit Kaur State of Punjab and Others 36.
CWP No.3918 of 2014 Bhinderpal Kaur State of Punjab and Others 37.
CWP No.4022 of 2014 Amardeep Singh and Ors.
State of Punjab and Others 38.
CWP No.4024 of 2014 Bhupinder Singh State of Punjab and Anr.
39.
CWP No.413 of 2014 Dinesh Thakur and Ors.
State of Punjab and Anr.
#8# 40.
CWP No.470 of 2014 Jaiya Parveen Sharma and Ors.
State of Punjab and Others 41.
CWP No.560 of 2014 Parbhat Bhushan Sharma State of Punjab and Others 42.
CWP No.561 of 2014 Kishori Lal and Ors.
State of Punjab and Others 43.
CWP No.5964 of 2014 Dinesh Kumar State of Punjab and Others 44.
CWP No.640 of 2014 Sahaita Rani State of Punjab and Others 45.
CWP No.6904 of 2014 Raj Kumar
#9# State of Punjab and Others 46.
CWP No.732 of 2014 Preenu Bala State of Punjab and Others 47.
CWP No.738 of 2014 Karamjit Singh State of Punjab and Others 48.
CWP No.9178 of 2014 Rajesh Kumar Arora State of Punjab and Others 49.
CWP No.9192 of 2014 Bhoj Raj State of Punjab and Anr.
50.
CWP No.9632 of 2014 Khushminder Singh State of Punjab and Others
#10# 51.
CWP No.15519 of 2012 Sarabjeet Singh State of Punjab and Others 52.
CWP No.15721 of 2014 Satya Devi State of Punjab and Others 53.
CWP No.10942 of 2013 Baljinder Singh Kaler State of Punjab and Others 54.
CWP No.3139 of 2015 Harbans Singh and Anr.
State of Punjab and Others 55.
CWP No.11205 of 2014 Jagtar Singh State of Punjab and Anr.
56.
CWP No.7711 of 2014 Amrik Singh
#11# State of Punjab and Others 57.
CWP No.2361 of 2014 Gurwant Singh State of Punjab and Others 58.
CWP No.22332 of 2015 Jaspal Singh Nagra and Anr.
State of Punjab and Others 59.
CWP No.861 of 2014 Bimla Devi and Ors.
State of Punjab and Others 60.
CWP No.17792 of 2014 Amarjit Singh and Ors.
State of Punjab and Others 61.
CWP No.382 of 2015 Jarnail Singh and Ors.
#12# State of Punjab and Anr.
62.
CWP No.18697 of 2015 Mukesh Chand and Anr.
State of Punjab and Anr.
63.
CWP No.16840 of 2012 Chamkaur Singh State of Punjab and Others 64.
CWP No.24658 of 2014 Sandeep Kumar State of Punjab and Others 65.
CWP No.24447 of 2014 Harbhajan Singh and Ors.
State of Punjab and Anr.
66.
CWP No.4636 of 2015 Sukhjinder Kaur State of Punjab and Others
#13# 67.
CWP No.15692 of 2016 Asha Kiran and Anr.
State of Punjab and Anr.
68.
CWP No.17112 of 2016 Kamlesh Kumari and Anr.
State of Punjab and Anr.
69.
CWP No.20788 of 2014 Harjit Kaur State of Punjab and Others 70.
CWP No.1173 of 2014 Hardeep Kaur State of Punjab and Anr.
Date of decision: 16.12.2016 CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH Present:-Mr. Gurminder Singh, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Sapan Dhir, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.185, 13351, 183, 184, 2949, 2965, 3918, 4022, 6904, 185, 861 of 2014).
Mr. Harinder Sharma, Advocate for the applicant(s) (in CM No.15399 of 2016 in CWP No.185 of 2014).
#14# Mr. Rahul Sharma-I, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.20788 of 2014).
Mr. Kapil Kakkar, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.19024, 20129, 20410, 20744, 28302 of 2013; 1651, 1793, 470, 561, 640, 738, 24658 of 2014). Mr. Vivek Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.19367, 20243, 21073, 21629, 21728, 26177, 26339, 26383, 27987, 8845, 10942, of 2013; 4024, 9192, 9632, 11205, 24447 of 2014; 382, 18697 of 2015).
Mr. Sunny Singla, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.22677 of 2013; 9178, 15721 of 2014). Mr. S.S.Sodhi, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.25506 of 2013).
Mr. R.K.Chopra, Senior Advocate assisted by Ms. Gagandeep Kaur, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.1173, 1177, 1175, 2538, 413 of 2014). Mr. P.S.Khurana, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.1302 of 2014).
Mr. R.K.Arora, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.16840 of 2012; 14136, 1881, 560 of 2014). Mr. Sawinder Singh, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.1924 of 2014).
Mr. Parveen K. Kataria, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.2807 of 2014).
Mr. Naveen Batra, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.3619 of 2014).
Mr. Shashi Kumar Rattan, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.5964, 7711 of 2014).
Mr. Kulbhushan Raheja, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.732 of 2014).
Mz. Aruna Sachdeva, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.15519 of 2012).
Mr. Saurabh Arora, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.3139 of 2015).
Mr. Sarmukh Singh, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.2361 of 2014).
Mr. Chanan Singh, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.17792 of 2014).
Mr. Naresh Kaushik, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.4636 of 2015).
#15# Mr. Rajinder Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner(s) (in CWP No.22332 of 2015).
Mr. A.S.Manaise, Advocate for respondent Nos.5 to 7. Mr. H.S.Sethi, Addl. A.G., Punjab for the respondent(s)/State. Jaswant Singh, J This order shall dispose of aforesaid 70 writ petitions since common questions of law and facts are involved in the same. In the bunch of writ petitions detailed in list-I of Annexure R.1 appended to the affidavit dated 15.12.2016 of Sh. Balbir Singh, DPI (Secondary Education), Punjab, a challenge has been laid by the Lecturers (School Cadre) in different subjects/streams to the impugned seniority of Masters/Mistresses dated 19.7.2013 prepared on the basis of subjectwise seniority; and the consequent review of their promotions and issuance of notice for their reversion to the respective posts of Masters/Mistresses on the ground that they do not fall within the zone of consideration.
In the second bunch available at List-II with Annexure R.1, the Masters/Mistresses apart from chalenging the seniority list dated 19.7.2013 are claiming promotions to the post of Lecturers in different stream, in view of their qualifications based on the previous seniority list dated 16.11.2011. In the third bunch of writ petitions, senior Masters and Mistresses, who have been ignored for promotion in May 2008 and May 2012, are seeking promotions to the posts of Lecturers in different streams w.e.f the date, their juniors were promoted.
For the sake of brevity, the facts are being extracted from the lead case bearing CWP No.185 of 2014.
#16# Fifty three petitioners, who are working as Lecturers (School Cadre) with the Punjab Education Department in different subjects, by preferring this writ petition, have sought for issuance of a writ of Certiorari for quashing the impugned seniority list dated 19.7.2013 (P.10) and show cause notices dated 24.12.2013 & 31.12.2013 (P.11 & P.12) whereby they have been sought to be reverted to the posts of Masters/Mistresses; with further prayer for staying the orders of reversion.
Upon notice, replies have been filed.
In the reply filed in CWP No.185 of 2014, it is stated that the anomalous situation has arisen due to fixing of a cut off date of joining as Masters/Mistress for each of the subjects in which process, certain candidates higher in merit at the time of recruitment and higher in seniority dated 16.11.2011 were not considered eligible on account of their date of joining as Master/Mistresses not falling prior to the cut off date fixed as 08.2.1997 while junior in the same selection list, who had joined earlier, were considered eligible.
In the reply filed in CWP No.8845 of 2013, forming part of bunch of cases mentioned in List-II annexed with the affidavit dated 15.12.2016 filed by DPI (SE), Punjab, it is stated that since the promotions made vide order dated 16.5.2012 (P.4) were not based on the seniority, hence the State Government vide order dated 01.3.2013 (R.1) had taken a decision to review the entire promotions. It is further stated that the said seniority not being in accordance with Rules had also been re-framed vide Annexure R.1. It is further stated that after giving due opportnity to file
#17# objections, tentative seniority list has been re-framed and declared on 19.7.2013 and in the meeting of DPC held on 29.8.2013, persons upto seniority No.1191 as SS Masters have been considered eligible whereas the petitioners are not eligible in terms of their seniority being lower in cadre. It is the stand on behalf of the petitioner that vide the impugned seniority list dated 19.7.2013 (P.10), (i) a separate senority list in the cadre of Masters/Mistresses in different streams; (ii) as well as separate seniority list of Masters and Mistresses by ignoring the Division Bench judgment of this Court in Neelam Rani Vs.
State of Punjab, 2010 (2) RSJ 70 (P&H) (DB) has been finalized in contravention of the Service Rules,namely, Punjab School Education Class III (School Cadre), Service Rules, 1978 (for short "1978 Rules"), and as such the impugned show cause notices for reversion of the petitioners are also unsustainable in the eyes of law and liable to be set aside. On the other hand, the State counsel has tried to justify the impugned seniority list by inter alia raising the plea that the same had been finalized on the basis of a report dated 01.3.2013 (P.9) submitted by a Committee of four Officers, namely, Special Secretary, Additional Secretary, OSD (Litigation) School Education, Punjab and the Director, Public Instructions (Secondary Education), Punjab.
It has also been submitted that the Committee noticed various irregularities in the earlier seniority list dated 16.11.2011 and as such, the impugned seniority list dated 19.7.2013 (P.10) has been re-casted.
#18# At the time of hearing today, learned State counsel has filed in Court an affidavit dated 15.12.2016 of the DPI (SE), Punjab along with Annexures R.1 containing List-I, List-II & List-III, wherein it has been averred that on reconsideration of entire matter, it has been decided that a single joint seniority list of almost 50,000 Masters/Mistressses of all streams/subjects appointed upto December 2016 will be finalized within a period of four months i.e upto 30.4.2017. It has further been submitted in the affidavit that within a further period of three months, the promotions to the posts of 8000 Lecturers made in 2008,2012 & 2016 will be reviewed as per the Rules applicable thereto.
The aforesaid stand of the official respondents is not objected by the petitioners rather both the sides are ad idem in resolving the entire dispute in the said manner. In view of the consensus arrived at between the rival parties, this Court does not feel appropriate to examine the lis any further on merits. However, in order to bury the controversy, this Court issues the following directions to respondent No.2/Director Public Instructions (Secondary Education), Punjab being the competent Authority, for strict compliance:
i) A Joint seniority list of all Masters/Mistresses appointed till date i.e 16.12.2016, shall be recasted strictly as per the decision of judgment in Neelam Rani's case (supra) on or before 30.9.2017. ii) The Seniority list will be framed batch-wise and the appointments made from the first batch will be
#19# placed senior to the later one and the inter se seniority between same batchmates will be determined on the basis of inter se merit position of a candidate prepared during selection.
Iii) That as no separate seniority list of Master/Mistresses based on their acquired qualifications in different streams for promotion as Lecturers would be maintained, therefore, the combined seniority list prepared as per the principles stated hereinabove shall be reviewed/updated every year in the month of August to mention the acquired qualification by the Masters/Mistresses, making them eligible for promotion to the post of Lecturers in the subject/stream concerned. A circular will be issued that the Masters/Mistresses, who have obtained/ acquired/ enhanced their qualification,which entitled them to be considered for promotion in respect of any other stream apart from the stream in which they are already working, they will have to mandatorily inform the Department within a period of one month of acquiring the said qualification to enable such addition against their name in the seniority list while updating the same every year in the month of August, failing which, the teacher concerned shall be solely responsible for denial of any right of
#20# promotion to the post of Lecturer in the subject concerned. The Directorate of Public Instructions shall also compile, periodically update and publish every year a list of eligible Masters and Mistresses for promotion as Lecturers in the stream concerned, on account of the acquisition of prescribed qualifications for promotion in the stream concerned. A separate list for each stream/subject shall be published;
iv) A public notice of at least one month in advance for inviting objections before finalizing the fresh Seniority list of Masters/Mistresses for promotion in respect of different streams, shall be published in three Newspapers (English, Hindi and Punjabi) of wider circulation in the state of Punjab. v) That after fresh seniority list has been framed then promotions, which have been made to the posts of Lecturers in May 2008, May 2012 and July 2016 shall be reviewed. If any candidate is found beyond the seniority and quota shall be reverted and candidates, who are found entitled for any promotion shall be accorded such promotion as Lecturer.
vi) Respondent No.2/DPI(SE), Punjab shall incorporate the material particulars of members of the service i.e Name, Father's Name, Designation, Date of Birth, District, Mode of recruitment, Date of
#21# appointment, Date of promotion, Date of joining, Present place of posting, Category, Merit number, Percentage of merit, Subject and Special remarks etc, as far as possible in the Seniority List or in any other manner, so as to have complete transparency;
Disposed of in the above terms.
A photo copy of this order be placed on all the connected cases.
December 16, 2016 ( JASWANT SINGH ) manoj JUDGE