- (1.) Four writ petitions are being disposed of by this judgment. They can be separated into two groups : C.W.P. No. 2584 of 1987 and C.W P. No. 9357 of 1990 may be classified in one group and C.W.P. No. 2244 of 1986 and C.W.P. No. 3275 of 1987 in the other group. Arguments were addressed in C.W.P. No. 2584 of 1987 from which broad facts would be taken into consideration.
(2.) The question involved in these writ petitions is concerning the fixation of seniority of Assistant Engineers inter se promoted from Junior Engineers and others who had passed both parts of the necessary examinations known as AMIE against their quota which varied at different times from 5% to 7%. The service conditions regarding recruitment and fixation of seniority governing the Assistant Engineers and others working in the Haryana State Engineers and others working in the Haryana State Electricity Board are regulated by the Punjab State Electricity Board Service of Engineers (Electricity) Recruitment Regulations, 1965 (as applicable to the Electricity Board in Haryana). These Regulations were framed under Section 79 of the Electricity Supply Act of 1948 by the Punjab State Electricity Board which were subsequently made applicable to the Haryana State Electricity Board. Under Regulation No. 3 the service is to comprise of posts as specified in Appendix 'A' attached thereto which also includes the posts of Assistant Engineers (earlier classified as Assistant Engineers II). There are three methods of recruitment to the post of Assistant Engineers as provided under Regulation No. 6(a), namely, (i) by direct appointment, (ii) by promotion as provided in Regulation No. 9, (iii) by transfer of an officer already in the service of a Government or any other State Electricity Board or an Undertaking of Government. Qualifications for direct appointment are given in Regulation No. 8. Appointment by promotion is governed by Regulation No. 9 which provides 7 per cent quota out of the total strength of Assistant Engineers to be filled by Engineers Subordinates who are Bachelor of Engineering or A.M.I.E. during the service of the Board. Qualifications for promotion as Assistant Engineers from other sources by promotion for the remaining quota is also provided under Regulation No. 9. Regulation No. 11 provides that appointment by promotion shall be made on the basis of merit and suitability in all respects with due regard to seniority and that no officer shall have any claim to promotion as a matter of right on the basis of mere seniority. Regulation No. 15 deals with the subject of fixation of seniority of the members of the service which is reproduced as under :- "15. SENIORITY The Seniority of the member of the Service shall be determined as follows :- "(1) PRIOR TO CONFIRMATION : The seniority inter se of members of the Service in a particular class of posts viz. Assistant Engineer, Assistant Executive Engineer, Executive Engineers, Superintending Engineers, Additional Chief Engineers and Chief Engineers, shall be determined by the date of their continuous appointment in that class : Provided firstly, that in the case of members appointed by direct appointment, the order of merit determined by the Board shall not be disturbed so far as the seniority in the class of post to which direct appointment was made is concerned, and persons appointed as a result of an earlier selection shall be senior to those appointed as a result of subsequent selection : Provided secondly, that in the case of two or more members appointed on the same date, seniority shall be determined as follows :- (a) In the order of the salaries allowed to them on such date, the higher paid being placed above the lower paid or if both the date of appointment and the salary be the same, in the order of age, the older being placed above the younger, and (b) In the case of members of the Service appointed as Assistant Engineers and above by promotion according to their relative seniority in the lower class from which they were promoted unless a member of a lower class is promoted earlier than another member of that class who is senior to him and the latter has been passed over on the score of unsuitability or ineligibility for promotion, including refusal to undergo Thermal Training and/or to work in Thermal Plants, unless exempted, in which case the members of the lower class first promoted shall take rank in the higher class, above such other members of the lower class if and when the latter is promoted as Assistant Engineer and/or above : Provided thirdly, that a member of the Service who is appointed as Assistant Engineer by direct appointment shall be senior to all members of the Service appointed as Assistant Engineer by promotion from the subordinate Class who may be appointed to the Service after the appointment of any member by direct appointment in the same batch of selection : Provided fourthly, that the seniority of a member of the Service appointed by transfer shall be determined by the Board on the merits of each case. "Provided fifthly, that if a member of the Service is promoted temporarily to a post earlier than his senior, for reasons other than the inefficiency of the senior person or his ineligibility for promotion they will rank inter se according to their relative seniority in the cass from which they were promoted. (2) AFTER CONFIRMATION : Those who have been confirmed in a class, according to their respective date of confirmation : Provided that where two or more members are confirmed on the same date, they shall retain the order in which they stood with respect to each other immediately prior to confirmation."
(3.) In the meeting of the Board held on December 31, 1976, a decision was taken by the Board which is contained in Annexure P2 and is reproduced as under :- "The Board in its meeting held on 31.12.76 agreed with the proposal made in the memorandum and decided that promotion to the post of Assistant Engineers against 5% quota reserved from AMIE qualified candidates be made in the manner indicated below :- (a) Subject to the possession of the twin qualifications at the time of the selection the inter se seniority of persons in the promoted rank shall be fixed according to their original seniority in the lower rank. (b) In case at the time of selection a senior man is passed over on the grounds of lack of qualification and/on his acquisition of these qualifications, he is promoted in a subsequent selection, he shall rank senior to the earlier promoted junior man unless in the meantime the earlier promoted junior man has been confirmed against a post in the promoted rank. (c) Since promotion against 5% quota reserved for AMIE qualified persons is available not only to Line Superintendent, but is also (been) to other category of staff who pass AMIE examination e.g. SSA, AEM draftsman, Test Inspectors, etc. the inter se seniority of persons drawn from different categories (in both eventualities (a) and (b) above) shall be determined on the basis of the scale of pay in the lower rank.";