ANJANI KUMAR,J. - (1.) PETITIONER , by means of this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, has prayed for quashing of the order dated 10.1.1992. Annexure -3 to the writ petition, whereby the petitioner's promotion was done in category III post by the then administrator of the District Cooperative Bank Limited. Saharanpur in anticipation of approval by the respondent No. 1 U. P. Co -operative Institutional Service Board, Lucknow but as the order goes on to say that since the Board has refused to approve the promotion of the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner does not possess the requisite educational qualifications. i.e., intermediate pass, so the promotion of the petitioner has been refused by the respondent No. 1 vide its resolution No. 13 (11) dated 17.10.1989 and the request made by the petitioner for relaxation of the educational qualification was also rejected. The petitioner has also not stated that the same has been granted till date, therefore, the petitioner cannot be allowed to work in the category III and has been reverted to his substantive post of category IV. It is this order subjected to challenge of the present writ petition. It is not in dispute that District Co -operative Bank Ltd. is a co -operative society registered under the provisions of the U, P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1965 and the provisions of the U. P. Co -operativeEmployees' Service Regulations, 1975, which is applicable to the employees of the Bank.
(2.) REGULATIONS 5 and 15, which are relevant for the purposes of the present controversy, are reproduced below : '5. Recruitment. - -(i) Recruitment for all appointments in a cooperative society shall be made through the Board whether the recruitment is : (a) direct ; or (b) by promotion from employees already in the service of the society : or (c) by taking on deputation or otherwise, person already in the service of another society registered or deemed to have been registered under the Act, or a person in employment under a corporation an undertaking owned or controlled by the Central or the State Government body corporate administering a local fund. (ii) Notwithstanding anything in Clause (i) no reference to the Board shall be necessary in the following cases : (a) When it is proposed to fill with the concurrence of the Registrar any post by means of deputation of a Government servant, or (b) When the Managing Committee or any other authority competent to make the appointment proposed to fill up as a step -gap measure for a period not exceeding six months a post by promotion from amongst the employees in the Just below cadre on the principle of seniority subject to the rejection of the unfit : Provided that any appointment thus made without consultation with the Board shall in every case,cease to have effect from the date on which the period of six months expires and the employees promoted to the higher post shall unless he has already been reverted to his original post within the said period of six months be deemed to have reverted from that date, to the post held by him immediately before such promotion : Provided further that the employee appointed to the higher post under this sub -clause shall, in no circumstances, be promoted under this sub -clause to any still higher post within the said period of six months, nor shall be appointed under this sub -clause to the same post again after his reversion under the first proviso. 15. (i) No appointment shall be made except in the manner provided for in the Regulations hereinbefore. Where recruitment through or with the approval of the Board is provided for in Regulation No. 5, no appointment shall be made except of the candidate and in the order mentioned in the list communicated by the Board. (ii) Subject to the provisions of Clause (i) appointment shall be made by the committee of management of the society or by such authority as may be specified in the bye -laws : Provided that the letter of appointment shall, in the case of Secretary, be issued by the Chairman, and in all other cases, it shall be issued by the Secretary of the society. The letter of appointment shall contain the name of the post, place of posting, nature of appointment, such asregular or temporary, probationary period and security, if any, salary with scale and conditions referred to in Regulation No. 14 and the date by which he has to Join.' According to Regulations 5 and 15, no person can be appointed whether by way of promotion or otherwise unless the same has been recruited/promoted on the recommendation of the respondent No. 1 i.e., U. P. Co -operative Institutional Service Board, Lucknow. The Regulation goes on to say that any promotion/appointment, which is contrary to the Regulation, will be void as laid down by the Apex Court in the case of Virendm Pal Singh and Ors. v. The District Asstt. Registrar, Co -opertive Societies. Etah and Anr., 1980 UPLBEC 202, the relevant portion of the judgment is quoted below : 'If despite the constitution of the Board and the issuance of administrative instructions, some Co -operative Societies chose to make appointment, such appointments have necessarily been held to be invalid.'
(3.) IN this view of the law laid down by the Apex Court, the promotion of the petitioner from category IV to category III post without complying with the Regulations 5 and 15 is void. Apart from the fact that even after the proposal was sent to the Board and the Board has disapproved the same in these circumstances, the committee of management has no option but to revert back the petitioner to his substantive post, i.e., category IV post. No other point was argued. Learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon the decisions of learned single Judge of this Court but in view of the law laid down by the Apex Court, as stated above, I am bound by the decision of the Apex Court and not of the learned single Judge of this Court. The writ petition is, therefore, devoid of any merit and is liable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.;