- (1.) By this order I will dispose of C.W.P. Nos. 4829 of 2011, 6501, 8832, 9902, 11081, 24914, 25959 of 2013 and 5806, 13859 and 16313 of 2014. In this bunch of writ petitions, this Court has been called upon to answer a question pertaining to the seniority of the petitioners.
(2.) A common question of law arises which in brief has been encapsulated in the order dated 13.11.2014 which is extracted here below:- "Learned counsel representing the petitioners in all the cases are agreed that there is a common question involved and if that is decided it would eventually satisfy their grievance for the reason that the factual aspects in any case would have to be left to the determination of the respondents subsequent to the decision of the main law point which may be enumerated as below:- "If there was no separate cadre of PAP prior to the coming into existence of Rules 2008 then would the petitioners be entitled to a common seniority of those who were allocated the PAP as against those who were retained in the general cadre in the field."
(3.) The conceded facts thrown up in the petition are that upto year 2008, which is the year in which amended rules were introduced, there were no separate and distinct cadres between the Punjab Armed Police (P.A.P.) and the general cadres in the field. There was a common source of recruitment upon which services of the selected incumbents would be allocated to P.A.P. or be retained on the general side with complete inter-changeability amongst the two. It is only in 2008 by virtue of the amendment that separate cadres were created in the District Police, Armed Battalion and Intelligence Wing with a stipulation that seniority in each of the cadres at all levels would be maintained centrally.;