Vijay Kumar v. Union Of India & ORS



IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT

CHANDIGARH **** 1.

LPA-549-2017 (O&M) Krishna Devi . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 2.

LPA-621-2017 (O&M) Davinder Pal Singh . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 3.

LPA-623-2017 (O&M) Rakesh Kumar . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 4.

LPA-838-2017 (O&M) Gurinder Singh . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 5.

LPA-839-2017 (O&M) Vijay Kumar . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 6.

LPA-899-2017 (O&M) Rajesh Kumar . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents ****



7.

LPA-979-2017 (O&M) Harpal Singh . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 8.

LPA-760-2017 (O&M) Manish Kumar . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 9.

LPA-769-2017 (O&M) Dupinder Kumar . . . . Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** 10.

LPA-1847-2017 (O&M) Kuldeep Singh . . . . Appellants Vs.

Union of India and others . . . . Respondents **** Date of Decision: 01.02.2023 **** CORAM: HON'BLE MR JUSTICE M.S. RAMACHANDRA RAO HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE SUKHVINDER KAUR **** Present: - Mr.Jasbir Singh, Mr. Sukhcharan Singh Sahoke & Mr.Jai Bhagwan, Advocates, for the appellant Mr. Mohit, Advocate for Mr. Amit Arora, Advocate, for respondent-UOI.

Mr. Ranjan Lohan, Advocate, for respondents No.2&3/BOI.

****



M.S. RAMACHANDRA RAO, J. (ORAL) All these Letters Patent Appeals have been preferred against an order passed by the learned Single Judge dt.10.03.2017 in CWP No.24742 of 2015 and batch, whereby the learned Single Judge had dismissed the Writ Petitions as not maintainable on the ground that the appellants had earlier filed CWP No.23581 of 2015 and had withdrawn the same on 29.02.2016 without seeking liberty to file a fresh Writ Petition. Counsel for the appellants contends that previous Writ Petition had been filed prior to November, 2015 and on 04.11.2015, notice of motion was issued to respondent Nos. 2 and 3, and after such notice was issued, the appellants were not allowed to perform their duties as casual employees.

There is a specific pleading about the engagement of the appellants in para 4 and there is a reference to Annexure P2/certificate issued by Special Assistant of Respondent No.2/ Bank, and in para 20 and para 29(17), there is a specific pleading that after receipt of notice of motion in the said Writ Petition, the respondents had not permitted the appellants to perform their duties.

There is no rebuttal of this pleading in the written response filed by respondent Nos. 2 and 3 in the Writ Petition. Therefore, if the disengagement of the appellants was after the filing of the CWP No.23581 of 2015, it would be a fresh cause of action, insofar as the claim of the appellants for their reinstatement is concerned, because such a plea could not have been subject matter of CWP No.23581 of 2015, when the appellants had not been disengaged by the respondents. It appears that the learned Single Judge had not noticed this circumstance and had erroneously taken the view that the cause of action is



one and the same in the previous Writ Petition as well as the Writ Petitions out of which the present LPAs arise, and held them to be not maintainable. Accordingly, the order dt.10.03.2017 passed by the learned Single Judge in CWP No.24742 of 2015 in batch is hereby set aside; Writ Petitions are held to be maintainable; and since there is no adjudication on the merits of the contentions of the appellants in the said Writ Petitions, they are remitted back to the learned Single Judge for fresh consideration on the merits.

It is made clear that this Court has not expressed any opinion on the merits of the contentions of the either parties. Matters be listed before the learned Single Judge having provision for such matters as per roster on 27.02.2023. A photocopy of this order be placed on the files of the connected cases.

Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of. (M.S. RAMACHANDRA RAO) JUDGE 01.02.2023
 (SUKHVINDER KAUR) JUDGE