- (1.) The sole controversy in this Writ Petition is whether the State Government had rightly understood the import of the order of the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 2617 of 1980 and Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 801 of 1982 while giving the seniority to Pritam Chand, Bhagwan Dass and Avtar Singh, respondents No. 3 to 5, vide its orders Anenxure P-2 and P-3 by considering their entire length of Military service rendered by them even beyond the period of Emergency, that is, from 26.10.1962 to 10.1.1968.
(2.) The brief resume of facts relevant for the disposal of this Writ Petition is that respondents No. 3 to 5 are Ex. Military Servicemen. They were released from the Army at their own request on compassionate grounds. The period of their Military service is as under :- Respondent No. 38.11.1963 to 18.12.1969 Respondent No. 48.10.1963 to 1.11.1968 Respondent no. 528.1.1966 to 5.11.1969
(3.) After their release from Army, respondents No. 3 to 5 joined the Cooperative Department of the Punjab Government as Clerks on 18.1.1971, 16.3.1970 and 21.1.1971 respectively against the posts reserved for Ex. Servicemen in terms of Demobilised Armed Forces Personal (Reservation of Vacancies in the Punjab State Non-Technical Services) Rules, 1968 (hereinafter called the 1968 Rules). These respondents submitted a number of representations to the State Government for granting them the benefit of their Military services towards the fixation of seniority etc. The State Government, however, rejected their representation vide order dated 6.9.1974. Present respondent No. 3 then filed Civil Writ Petition No. 6003 of 1974 in this High Court. In that Writ Petition, the State of Punjab took the stand that as the writ petitioner was appointed in the year 1971 when the 1968 Rules were in operation and that the petitioner having been released form the Army at his own request and not on administrative grounds was ineligible for the benefits provided by the 1965 Rules. This Writ Petition was allowed by late Mr. Justice D.S. Lamba on 13.8.1976. The State then filed Letters Patent Appeal No. 401 of 1976 in the High Court. During the pendency of this Letters Patent Appeal, the 1968 Rules were amended by the Demobilised Armed Forces Personnel (Reservation of Vacancies in the Punjab State Non-Technical Services First Amendment) Rules, 1977 (hereinafter called the 1977 Amendment). Vide this amendment, the Army personnel, who had been released on their own request from the Army, were rendered ineligible for the grant of benefit of seniority of their Military service. The 1977 Amendment was made operative retrospectively with effect from 1.11.1966. Present respondent No. 3 then amended his Writ Petition with the permission of the Court and challenged the validity of the 1977 Amendment. The Letters Patent Appeal was allowed by the Division Bench of this Court vide its decision dated 25.9.1980. The judgment of the Single Bench was reversed and it was held that the 1977 Amendment of the Rules was intra vires the Constitution. Present respondent No. 3 then filed Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court while present respondent No. 4 and 5 filed Writ Petitions before the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India challenging the validity of the 1977 Amendment, contending that a similar amendment was also made by the State of Haryana in the 1968 Rules and the validity of Haryana amendment was challenged in the Supreme Court by Capt. K.C. Arora and another and Ex. Capt. A.S. Parmar and others. The Supreme Court disposed of the above referred Special Leave Petition filed by present respondents No. 4 and 5 besides other appeals by one judgment in Ex. Capt K.C. Arora and another v. State of Haryana and ors., 1984 2 SLR 97, with the following observations figuring in para No. 24 of the judgment : "For the foregoing discussion the writ petitions as well as the appeals are allowed and the order of the High Court dated October 1, 1980 are quashed and the impugned rule 4(ii) of the Punjab Government National Emergency (Concession) Rules, 1965, as amended by the Haryana Government Gazette Notification No. GSR.77/Const./Article 309/Amed/(1)76 dated 22nd March, 1976 amending the definition of the expression 'military service' in rule 2, are declared to be ultra vires the Constitution, insofar as they affect prejudicially persons who had acquired rights as stated above. A writ in the nature of mandamus is issued directing respondents Nos. 1 and 2 to prepare the seniority list afresh in the light of the decision of this Court taking into consideration the military service rendered by the petitioners as well as the appellants.";