SUNIL AMBWANI,J. - (1.) ALL the writ petitioners in this batch of writ petitions, serving as police officers of subordinate ranks in Civil Police in the State of Uttar Pradesh, have prayed for quashing he orders by which, by way of final allocation by the Central Government under Section 73 (2) of the U.P. State Reorganisation Act, 2000 they have been transferred by final allocation to the State of Uttarakhand, and have been directed to be relieved to join in the State of Uttaranchal.
(2.) SECTIONS 73, 75, 76 and 77 of the U.P. State Reorganisation Act, 2000 relevant for deciding the issues raised in these writ petitions are quoted as below: "73. Provisions relating to other services.-(1) Every person who immediately before the appointed day is serving in connection with the affairs of the existing State of Uttar Pradesh shall, on and from that day provisionally continue to serve in connection with the affairs of the State of Uttar Pradesh unless he is required, by general or special order of the Central Government to serve provisionally in connection with the affairs of the State of Uttranchal: Provided that every direction under this sub-section issued after the expiry of a period of one year from the appointed day shall be issued with the consultation of the Governments of the successor States. (2) As soon as may be after appointed day, the Central Government shall, by general or special order, determine the successor State to which every person referred to in sub-section (1) shall be finally allotted for service and the date with effect from which such allotment shall take effect or be deemed to have taken effect. (3) Every person who is finally allotted under the provisions of sub-section (2) to a successor State shall, if he is not already serving therein be made available for serving in the successor State from such date as may be agreed upon between the Governments concerned or in default of such agreement, as may be determined by the Central Government. 75. Provisions as to continuance of officers in same post.-(1) Every person who, immediately before the appointed day is holding or discharging the duties of any post or office in connection with the affairs of the existing State of Uttar Pradesh in any area which on that day falls within any of the successor States shall continue to hold the same post or office in that successor State, and shall be deemed, on and from that day, to have been duly appointed to the post or office by the Government of, or any other appropriate authority in that successor State: Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent a competent authority, on and from the appointed day, from passing in relation to such person any order affecting the continuance in such post or office. 76. Advisory Committee.-The Central Government may, by order, establish one or more Advisory Committees for the purpose of assisting it in regard to- (a) the discharge of any of its functions under this Part; and (b) the ensuring of fair and equitable treatment to all persons affected by the provisions of this Part and the proper consideration of any representations made by such persons. 77. Power of Central Government to give directions.-The Central Government may give such directions to the State Government of Uttar Pradesh and the State Government of Uttranchal as may appear to it to be necessary for the purpose of giving to the foregoing provisions of this Part and the State Government shall comply with such directions." The Central Government notified 9.11.2000 as the 'appointed day' under Section 2 (a) of the Act. Section 73 (2) of the Act empowers the Central Government to determine by general or special order, the successor State to which every person mention in sub-section (1) shall be finally allotted for service and the date with effect from which the allotment to take effect. The final allotment has to be done by the Central Government on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee appointed under Section 76 for ensuring fair and equitable treatment to all persons likely to be affected, and for proper consideration of any representation made by such person. Under Section 77 the Central Government can give directions to the State Government, as may appear to it to be necessary for the purposes of giving effect to the provisions of para 8 of the Act.
(3.) THE Secretary, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India wrote a letter dated 13.9.2000 to the Chief Secretary, U.P. Government, a copy of which is Annexure 3 to the writ petition. This letter stated that discussions were held in the meeting with the three Chief Secretaries of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and U.P. on 6.9.2000 in the Chambers of Sri B.B. Tandon, Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pensions on the principles to be followed for allocating personnel belonging to the services other than All India Service to the new States in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Sri B.B. Tandon also sent, along with that letter a copy of the guidelines containing the principles and modalities of handling the personnel and service matters which should be followed by the State Government for all services other than all India services. This letter mentioned nodal officers in the Central Government who may be contacted by the State Government, for any guidance and clarifications. Various principles were mentioned in the guidelines annexed to the aforesaid letter. The Chief Secretary, U.P. formulated the policy of allocation of personnel in pursuance of the guidelines of these Central Government dated 13.9.1990-in which the distribution of personnel were laid down on the basis of three criteria, namely (i) option (ii) domicile status, and (iii) deputation.;