Satish Kumar Mittal, J. - (1.) THE petitioner, who was appointed as Safai Mazdoor (Sweeper) on 3.5.1994 and since then is working as such in the Municipal Committee, Samalkha, has filed this petition under Articles 226/ of the Constitution of India for quashing the order dated 21.2.2006 (Annexure P -14) passed by the Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, whereby claim of the petitioner for promotion to the post of Clerk has been rejected.
(2.) IT is the case of the petitioner that he has passed the Matriculation examination in the year 1983. He has also passed the Higher Secondary examination in the year 1985. He belongs to the Scheduled Caste category and is fully eligible for appointment on the post of Clerk. It is further case of the petitioner that as per instructions dated 3.5.1991, issued by the Government of Haryana, a Class IV employee, after completion of 5 years of service as well as having the qualification of Matriculation, is eligible for promotion to the post of Clerk. Since the petitioner has completed more than 5 years of service and he is also eligible for appointment on the post of Clerk, he moved an application to the Secretary, Municipal Committee, Samalkha, to consider his claim for his promotion to the post of Clerk. He also sent a representation in this regard to the Deputy Commissioner. When the representation of the petitioner was not considered by the Deputy Commissioner, he filed C.W.P. No. 9948 of 2002, which was disposed of on 5.7.2002, with a direction to the respondents to consider and decide the representation of the petitioner by passing a speaking order, within ? period of four months. Consequently, vide impugned order dated 21.2.2006, the Deputy Commissioner, Panipat considered and rejected the claim of the petitioner for promotion to the post of Clerk. In the impugned order, it has been mentioned that 20% of the total strength of the posts of Clerks is to be filled up by way of promotion from Group D or Group C lower than the post of Clerk. In the Municipalities of District Panipat, there were only 29 posts of Clerks, out of which only 5 posts were to be filled up by way of promotion. It has been further mentioned that as per the Government instructions dated 16.12.1980, 20% of the posts shall be filled up from Scheduled Caste category. Therefore, only one post fell for Scheduled Caste category. It is further mentioned that the petitioner is at serial No. 6 in seniority among the candidates, who are eligible for promotion to the post of Clerk and 5 candidates are senior to the petitioner, who are to be considered for promotion, Out of those 5 candidates, 2 persons belong to the Scheduled Caste category. Therefore, it was found that at present, the claim of the petitioner for promotion to the post of Clerk cannot be considered.
(3.) IN the writ petition, the petitioner has not disputed his seniority position, as mentioned in the impugned order. His claim is that he. has worked for more than 5 years as Safai Mazdoor (Sweeper) and is fully eligible for promotion to the post of Clerk, therefore, he should be promoted as Clerk. After hearing counsel for the parties and going through the contents of the writ petition, as well as the separate written statements, filed by respondents No. 1 to 3 and respondent No. 4, we do not find any merit in the instant petition.;