- (1.) This judgment disposes of C.W.P. No. 7285 and 3077 of 1993. Challenge has been made to the almost identical orders passed by the Chief Engineer (Drainage), Irrigation Department, Punjab and the Chief Engineer (Construction) S.Y.L. Canal Project, Punjab, whereby the services of the petitioners were assigned to the Director, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab, Chandigarh, for appointment as Junior Engineers in that Department, in these petitions under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India.
(2.) The service record of the petitioners in CWP No. 7285 of 1993 indicating their name, date of birth, date of joining as Tracers in the Irrigation Department and dates of subsequent promotions as Draftsmen and Junior Engineers is as follows :- Name of the Petitioner Date of birth Date of appointment as Tracer Date of appointment as Draftsman Date of promotion as Junior Engineer. Ashok Kumar Nanda 29.11.58 3.1.79 11.6.82 14.2.91 Ram Chand 22.8.51 12.12.73 9.5.83 3.3.91 Ram Paul Singla 15.11.62 ... 21.1.83 19.2.91 Raj Kumar 28.5.60 ... 24.12.79 20.2.91 Suresh Kumar Gupta 27.6.56 9.7.77 3.9.83 14.2.91 Wazir Chand 1.6.58 27.4.79 April, 85 14.2.91 Dharam Pal Garg 11.3.62 20.12.82 ... 15.2.91 The service conditions of the petitioners are governed by the Punjab Public Works Department (Irrigation Branch), Draftsmen and Tracers' State Service, Class III, Rules, 1960 (the Rules, for brevity). The Junior Engineers in the Irrigation Branch of the Public Works Department went on strike. The State Government took a policy decision to appoint officials working in the Irrigation Branch of the Public Works Department as Junior Engineers on ad hoc basis if they fulfilled the minimum qualifications prescribed for the post. Work charged employees/Beldars/Daily Wage workers were appointed as Junior Engineers on ad hoc basis. Some of the employees who were not offered ad hoc appointments approached this Court through writ petition for a direction to consider them for promotion as Junior Engineers on ad hoc basis. This Court issued the directions to the Department that the claim of the employees similarly situated should be considered for appointment as Junior Engineers. The Junior Engineers so appointed were absorbed in various projects, viz. Ranjit Sagar Dam, Shahpur Kandi Works, Mukerian Hydel Project, Anandpur Sahib Hydel Project and Satluj Yamuna Link. On completion of work in the various Projects, 341 posts of Junior Engineers were declared surplus. The petitioners are those Junior Engineers who had been declared surplus. The Government took a decision to absorb the petitioners and other similarly situated Junior Engineers in other departments wherever the vacancies existed. Consequently, the Chief Engineer (Drainage), Department of Irrigation, Punjab, Chandigarh requested the Director, Rural Development & Panchayat Department, Punjab, to absorb the Junior Engineers in his Department. The petitioners are being absorbed in the Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Punjab.
(3.) The grouse of the petitioners is that they had been appointed as Junior Engineers in the Irrigation Department and their services cannot be transferred to another Department against their wishes.;