NILESH KUMAR PANDEY Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Invoking the appellate jurisdiction of this Court under Section 2(1) of the Chhattisgarh High Court (Appeal to Division Bench) Act, 2006, this writ appeal has been preferred by the appellant / writ petitioner questioning the order passed by the learned Single Judge by which his writ petition has been dismissed finding no merit in the said writ petition. (For the sake of convenience, parties would be referred as per their status and ranking shown in the writ petition before the writ court.)

(2.) The petitioner applied for the post of Presiding Officer, Labour Court, pursuant to the advertisement dated 27-3-2008 issued by respondent No.2. On 7-7-2009, select list was published and thereafter, on 9-7-2009, name of the petitioner was also recommended by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (for short, 'the Chhattisgarh PSC') for his appointment as Presiding Officer, but on account of the ongoing litigation, appointment could not be made immediately after publication of select list and on the request made by the State Government, on 24-6-2010, the validity of select list was extended and made valid up to 5-1-2011. During the period of operation of the select list, the order of appointment was issued in favour of the petitioner on 28-8-2010 clearly stipulating that he has to join on the said post within a period of one month from the date of issuance of the order of appointment failing which his order of appointment would automatically come to an end. It was also stipulated that the order of appointment dated 28- 8-2010 will be subject to the outcome of the two writ petitions namely W.P.(S) Nos.3100/2009 and 3101/2009 pending before this Court. The petitioner did not join on the said post presumably on account of pendency of the two writ petitions filed by some of the unsuccessful candidates who did not find place in the select list issued by the Chhattisgarh PSC. Ultimately, the petitioner made an application on 28-4-2014 to the State of Chhattisgarh for extending the period of joining on the post of Presiding Officer, Labour Court and the State of Chhattisgarh by its order dated 12-6-2014 rejected the said representation / application finding that the validity of the original select list as well as the supplementary list has already come to an end, therefore, joining period cannot be extended in absence of any specific provisions in the rules applicable.

(3.) Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the order passed by the State Government rejecting his representation on 12-6-2014 thereby declining to extend the period of joining, the petitioner filed W.P.(S)No.2912/2014 before this Court stating inter alia that he could not join on the said post on account of the two writ petitions pending and entertained and interim order having been passed making the appointment of the petitioner subject to the outcome of those writ petitions and also for the reason that he was admittedly working as Welfare Officer, Central Jail, Raipur and therefore in order to join on the said post of Presiding Officer, Labour Court during the pendency of the writ petitions, he was required to resign from the said post of Welfare Officer, Central Jail, Raipur, which he was holding, therefore, he is justified in not joining on the post of Presiding Officer, Labour Court and as such, the joining period be extended which was also recommended by the State Government to the PSC at one point of time. Therefore, the order dated 12-6- 2014 be quashed and the petitioner be allowed to join on the post of Presiding Officer, Labour Court.