H.R.Sodhi, J. - (1.) This writ petition raises a controversy between the Municipal Committee, Amritsar, petitioner, and the State of Punjab, respondent. The petitioner Committee is constituted under the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (hereinafter called the Municipal Act). It wanted to fill up post of Bill Distributors, Library Care Takers and Tax Collectors. There were vacancies of Beldars, Mazdoors, Chaukidars, etc. as well. Some posts of Peons were also to be filled up. We have in force the Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959, referred to hereinafter as the Act, and it extends to the whole of India. After the commencement of the Act, every employer is required under section 4(1) of the Act to notify the vacancies to such Employment Exchanges as may be prescribed. The manner and form in which the Employment Exchange are to be notified and also the requirements of an employer are stated in rule 4 of the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Rules, 1960. All that needs to be done is that the local Employment Exchange concerned is to be furnished necessary particulars in respect of each type of vacancies at least one week before the date on which the employer wants to interview or hold a test and where no such interview or test is necessary, the date on which the vacancies are intended to be filled up. The petitioner Committee did inform the Employment Exchange giving necessary particulars of the vacancies of different categories that were to be filled up. What appears to have happened is that lists of eligible candidates were sent by the Employment Exchange but some persons whose names were registered with that Employment Exchange also applied directly to the Committee. The interview letters were sent to all of them, namely, those sponsored by the Employment Exchange and direct applicants. Interview committees were appointed and after selection, lists of suitable candidates prepared. Three resolutions Nos. 1470, 1471 and 1472 were passed on 21st March, 1970 whereby appointments were made in all the three categories referred to above, and these included those as well whose names had not been received through the Employment Exchange. Copies of these resolutions were sent to the Deputy Commissioner, as required by sub-section (2) of section 30 of the Municipal Act. The Deputy Commissioner respondent stayed implementation of the resolutions vide memorandum No. LFS/767, dated 6th May, 1970, annexure D and sent for the relevant files. On receipt of the stay order from the Deputy Commissioner, the Executive Officer of the Committee wrote back to him saying that some of the candidates had actually joined their duties and in their case the question of withholding implementation of the Committees resolution did not arise. So far as other persons were concerned, who had not joined, it was intimated that the matter was being put up to the Committee for orders. The Committee then passed a resolution No. 296 of 16th June, 1970. Annexure , F wherein its policy in the matter of filing up of vacancies was explained, It was reiterated that only those persons had been appointed who were registered with the Employment Exchange or sponsored by the latter. By majority resolution it was resolved that all those selected by the committee should be permitted to join in spite of the stay order issued by the Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner, in the meantime, referred the matter to the State Government which addressed the impugned communication Annexure G to the Committee, where by the latter was directed that it should terminate the services of all those employees who had been recruited from outside the lists of candidates received from the Employment Exchange, and that vacancies arising by the said terminations should be filled up from the Employment Exchange. The Government threatened to hold the Committee responsible for non-compliance of its orders though it was not made char as to how the threat would be executed. Since an audit objection had been raised and the Auditor General was not sanctioning payment of salaries to the employees recruited by the Committee in the aforesaid circumstances, the Committee filed Civil Writ No. 3125 of 1970 in this Court.
(2.) The Motion Bench while issuing a rule on 30th Sept., 1970, stayed operation of the impugned order ad interim. This stay order was later confirmed by me on Dec. 21, 1970. Twenty-two employees of different categories whose services were directed to be terminated also moved this Court for the exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India by means of Civil Writ No. 3156 of 1970, and both these writ petitions stand disposed of by this judgment.
(3.) The position taken up by the State in its return is that it was justified in directing termination of the services of the employees recruited in contravention of the instructions issued by it from time to time since those instructions were binding on the Committees. A copy of these instructions has been placed on the record as Annexure 'I' by the petitioner. A reference is made to these instructions to the earlier ones contained in Government memorandum No. MC 11 (I) 693-60/47366, dated 15th Nov., 1961. The Deputy Commissioners, Administrators and President of all the Municipal Committees in the erstwhile State of Punjab before its reorganisation under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, were required to notify vacancies sought to be filled up to the Employment Exchange concerned and no advertisement was to issue for inviting applications nor any other source exploited for recruitment unless the Employment Exchange to which the requirement had been notified issued a non-availability certificate. It will be useful to reproduce hereunder the final resume of those instructions as given therein:- "(i) So far as notification of vacancies to the Employment Exchanges is concerned, it is mandatory under the statutory provisions of section 4 of the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959. (ii) As regards the filling of the vacancies through the Employment Exchanges though there is no mandatory provisions for this purpose, it is necessary that in the larger interest of correct planning and welfare programme of the nation for maintaining the statistics of employment and unemployment, all vacancies are filled up from amongst the candidates sponsored by the Employment Exchanges where the posts do not come within the purview of the Punjab Service Commission and that any candidates from outside are recruited only when either candidates by the Employment Exchanges are not found suitable or the Employment Exchanges give non-availability certificates.";