- (1.) Petitioner is an ex-serviceman. He served the Indian Air Force from January 29, 1963 to January 28, 1972 as a Combatant Member of the said Force. He was selected as an officer in the Punjab and Sind Bank in the category-of ex-servicemen on March II, 1977 and was confirmed as such on March 12, 1978. The Punjab and Sind Bank was nationalised in the year 1980. The claim of the petitioner is that he was entitled to the benefit of military service in the same terms as had been granted by the said Bank to one Jaswant Singh who was directly appointed as an officer in the Bank after being released from the armed forces. The grouse of the petitioner is that he has been discriminated in the matter of grant of such benefits which have been denied to him by the bank. In para 10 of the writ petition, the petitioner a specific averment to the following effect. "Even one of the other ranker Shri Jaswant Singh who was directly appointed as Officer, was granted weightage of military service and promoted to the next higher rank long back." Respondent No. 2 filed a written statement and took a stand that the petitioner was not entitled to the benefit of military service. Averments as made in para 10 of the writ petition were denied as under:- "Contents of para 10 are wrong and denied. The petitioner is wrongly claiming the benefit granted to ECOs and SSCOs who are not in the same class as the petitioner is. The petitioner had worked only as an Airman and had been released from the services in the year 1972 Thereafter as an independent outside candidate, he had joined me services of the bank in the year 1977. Though the bank was a private body at that time, it had given the time of his joining. The cases cited in this paragraph are on a completely different footing "
(2.) Contention of the petitioner is that the averments made by him in the writ petition in respect of Jaswant Singh have not been denied. According, to the petitioner, in fact Jaswant Singh who is shown at serial number 753 of the seniority list of the Managers Middle Management Grade Scale-II, was granted the benefit of military service whereas the same has been denied to him though he is similarly situated as the said Jaswant Singh. The particulars of Jaswant Singh shown at Sr.No. 753 in the seniority list aforesaid are as follows:- Name Date of Birth Appointed as Promoted as Date of Placement Officer Sub Manager in Scale-II Jaswant 19.3.1930 3.12.1976 6.2.1980 15.12.1983 Singh
(3.) After hearing learned counsel for the respondents and the petitioner in person. I find that the contention has merit. The respondent-bank has not denied in any part of-its written statement that aforesaid Jaswant Singh had not been granted the benefit of military service nor has it been brought out therein mat the case of Jaswant Singh stood on a different footing than the petitioner. In the circumstances, I am of the view that the case of the petitioner is required to be considered for the grant of benefit of military service in the same manner as was granted to said Jaswant Singh unless he stood on a different footing.;