D.S. Tewatia, J. - (1.) WE have before us six Letters Patent Appeals viz. Nos. 648, 675, 676, 677, 678 and 679 all of the year 1980 and two Civil Writ Petitions No. 395 of 1979 and 441 of 1981 involving common question of law and facts and therefore, a common judgment is proposed to cover all the aforesaid eight matters. Wherever necessary material facts primarily would be referred to from C.W.P. No. 395 of 1979 and C.W.P. No. 441 of 1981 and L.P.A. No. 678 of 1980.
(2.) THE Director, Food and Supplies Department, Punjab, Respondent No. 2 invited applications in January, 1971 for some purely temporary posts inter alia of Sub -Inspectors, Food and Supplies hereinafter referred to as "Sub -Inspectors", - -vide advertisement Ex. P. 1 to the C.W.P. No. 395 of 1979. In response to the said advertisement the Petitioners in C.W.P. No. 395 of 1975 and some others put in their applications. A written test was held which the Petitioners and some others qualified. The Director, Food and Supplies, then passed an order, dated May 22, 1971, Annexure P. 3 to C.W.P. No. 441 of 1981, asking the District Food and Supplies Controllers (hereinafter referred to as the Controller) to constitute Selection Committees comprising of three members each for making selection after holding interview of the candidates who had been called for interview and to effect appointment on ad -hoc basis of the candidates selected by them. On 3rd November, 1971, the Government constituted a Departmental Selection Committee (as the Subordinate Services Selection Board had been superseded) for making selections for regular appointments; that in the meantime certain more posts of Sub -Inspectors had become available and the department advertised these posts through the Chairman of the Departmental Selection Committee. The Petitioners in CWP No. 441/81 and some of those who were already working on ad hoc basis, put in their applications in response to the said advertisement that the Petitioners after being selected by the Departmental Selection Committee were appointed by the Director, Flood and Suppress on regular basis as Sub -Inspectors in order of merit determined by the said Committee; that the Government, - -vide their letter, dated 29th January, 1973 decided to regularise the services of such of ad hoc appointees as had completed one year's service on 1st January, 1973 in terms of Annexure P. 4 to the said writ petition. In that letter it was made clear that on regularization the appointments of such regularised ad hoc appointees shall date -back to 1st January, 1973 from which date their seniority would be determined vis -a -vis candidates appointed on regular basic after selection through the prescribed agencies; that the services rendered on ad hoc basis would not be taken into account for the purposes of seniority except to determine inter se seniority between the ad hoc employees themselves whose services were regularised with effect from 1st January, 1973; that in compliance with the said order the Department, - -vide Annexure P. 7 to L.P.A. No. 678/80 effected' appointments on regular basis of such of the ad hoc employees as satisfied the requirements of the Government Order Annexure P4 aforesaid. That the department circulated tentative seniority list Annexure P.5 in CWP No. 441/81 and invited -objections there to in which the Petitioners were shown senior to Respondents 3 to 8 in the above petition. Final seniority list was drawn up, - -vide letter dated November 21, 1978, Annexure P.6 to the said petition which maintained the seniority of the Petitioners qua Respondents 3 to 8 as shown in the tentative seniority list Annexure P.5 to the same petition That before determining even tentative seniority of Sub -Inspectors, certain promotions to the posts of Junior Analysts were effected. Such promotees included some of the ad horn appointees in whose case it was made clear that their promotions were subjects to the regularisation order that would be passed. Those promotions were challenged in this Court in CWP No. 267 of 1977 which was dismissed by this Court on 28th March, 1977 on the basis at the latches and on the ground that the petition was premature as the Petitioner Chaman Lal's representation was pending consideration with the government.
(3.) THE tentative seniority list was challenge in. G.W.P. Nos. 1028 of 1978 by some of the ad hoc employees; shown junior to the Petitioners in C.W.P. No. 441 of 1981, C.W.P No. 1028/78 was dismissed on 1st May, 1978 with the observation that the impugned seniority list was yet a tentative one; that in the meantime private Respondents to six aforementioned LPAs impugned in this Court Clause 7 of their appointment letter Annexure P 7 for LPA No. 678/80. Their writ petitions were allowed by the learned Single Judge who held that Clause 7 of Annexure P.7, which mentioned that seniority would be determined in accordance with the Chief Secretary's instructions w.e.f. 1st January, 1973, militated against Rule 11 of Punjab Food and Supplies Department (State Service, Class III) Rules, 1968 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) which envisaged determination of seniority on the basis of continuous service. The State Government and the Director, Food and Supplies have challenged the correctness of the judgment of the learned Single Judge through aforementioned six LPAs.;