BAHARUL ISLAM - (1.) THIS is an application under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India. The Petitioner, Ex Capt. Randhir Singh Dhull prays that the military services rendered by him from 1963 to 1974 (except for the period during 1963 from 2-7-1968 to 13-10-1968) be tagged to his services with effect from 26-9-1974 for the purpose of his seniority, increments, promotion, pensions etc., and for a direction to respondent No. 1. the State of Haryana, to promote him to the Haryana Civil Service (Emergency. Branch)-" on the basis of the seniority claimed with effect from the date mentioned above. His grievance is that respondents Nos. 3 to 18 who were junior to him had been promoted and put above him. The impugned action of respondent No. 1, according to the Petitioner, has violated Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution
(2.) THIS case has a chequered career. The material facts may be stated in a short compass. The Petitioner 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 holding. 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". 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 26-9-1974 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 respondent 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 petitioner's 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, respondents Nos. 3 to 18 who were junior to him were promoted to be put above him. As 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 the 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 27-8-1979. The petitioner has thus filed the present Writ Application.
(3.) RESPONDENT No. 1 (hereinafter 'the respondent') has filed a counter affidavit. The contention of the respondent is that by Annexure. P. 5 the Petitioner was not appointed to the post of Tahsildar but he was accepted as a Tahsildar candidate. In other words, the RESPONDENT's contention is that the petitioner was accepted as an Apprentice for appointment to the post of Tahsildar after he qualified in the Haryana Civil Service (Executive Branch) 'and Allied Services Examination held by the. Haryana Public Service Commission in 1972-1973 in accordance with the rule; in force for selection of 'A' class Tahsildar apprentices. According to the respondent the petitioner was accepted by the Financial Commissioner, Haryana as a candidate for the post of Tahsildar in the State of Haryana on 1 3/09/1974 as per Annexure P. 5. The respondent has explained the procedure. The Procedure is that candidates for the Post of Tahsildar are required under para 4 (1) of the Standing Order No. 12 (hereinafter 'the Standing Order') issued by the Financial Commissioners read with Rule 5 of the Punjab Tahsildari Rules 1932, (hereinafter 'the Tahsildari Rules') to undergo Raming for a period of three years in the case of directly recruited candidates categorised as 'A' Class. In the case of candidates recruited otherwise are categorised as 'B' class candidates; the Raming period is fixed by the Financial Commissioner keeping in view candidates' experience and qualification. In addition to the completion of Raming, candidates are required to pass certain qualifying departmental examination before he is eligible to be appointed to the post of Tahsildar, temporary or permanent. Initially the tahsildar candidates are not enrolled against any post, nor are they appointed against any vacancy but they are appointed against vacancies after they have completed the Raming and passing the examination held. After appointment to the post of Tahsildar the Officer has to be on probation for a period of two years under Rule 10 of the Tahsildari Rules. According to the respondent the petitioner was accepted as Class 'A' Tahsildar candidate/ apprentice on 13/09/1974. The petitioner qualified himself for the post of Tahsildar after he had completed the prescribed tRaming and successfully qualified in the departmental examination and he along with 6 others was appointed as Tahsildar in the post of Tahsildar by Order dated 3/01/1978. The respondent's case is that as the petitioner had been in service in Armed Forces from April 29, 196 3/01/1968 on which date termination of the Emergency was declared under Art. 352 of the Constitution with effect from 26/10/1962 the petitioner was given the benefit of the service and his seniority was fixed as on 27/05/1973 in accordance with the provisions of Rule 4 (ii) read with Rule 2 of the Emergency Concession Rules 1965 (Annexure 'B') The decision of this case depends primarily on the true and correct interpretation of the document, Annexure p-5: (i) Whether it is a letter of appointment of the petitioner to the post of Tahsildar, as claimed. by the petitioner, or (ii) Whether it is a letter of acceptance of the candidature of the petitioner to the post of Tahsildar, as contended by the respondent. The material portion of document Annexure P-5 reads : 'From The Financial Commissioner & Secretary to Government, Haryana, Revenue Department. To 1. Shri Raj Kumar Aggarwal ... ... . 2. Shri Amarnath Ichhpujani ... ... . 3. Shri Ashok Kumar Visistha ... ... 4. Shri Kamal Kumar Gupta ... ... .. 5. Shri Hardhull Singh Bhole ... ... .. 6. Shri Randhir Singh Dhull (Petitioner) ;