Ranjit Singh Sarkaria, J. - (1.) THE petitioners, sixteen in number and working as Headmasters, have filed this writ petition seeking directions to the respondents to give benefit of seniority from the date it is due to them in the cadre of Headmaster and thereafter, promote them to the post of principal as per their seniority from the date their juniors similarly situated persons, were so promoted. Thirteen out of the sixteen petitioners have since retired. Presently, petitioner No. 1, Mehar Chand, petitioner No. 5, Ramesh Chand and petitioner No. 7, Sewa Ram, are still in service.
(2.) THE case has a bit of history. The petitioners, who are stated to be working as Masters, approached this Court by way of Civil Writ Petition No. 9448 of 1990 making prayer for promotion to the post of Headmasters and for giving them seniority from the date the promotion became due. The said writ petition was allowed on 31.1.1991. The petitioners were promoted as Headmasters w.e.f. 16.4.1991. This order statedly was not implemented in letter and spirit on account of which the petitioners made various representations. They subsequently also filed the contempt petition for implementation of this order. They also filed another Civil Writ Petition No. 4318 of 1992. The grievance in the said writ petition was that the petitioners, who are scheduled caste candidates, were not being given the benefit of reservation policy and, thus, being denied their chances of promotion to the post of principal. On 14.6.2000, an order revising the seniority of the petitioners as Headmasters was made. The petitioners were given seniority from the back date which according to the petitioners entitled them for promotion to the post of principal, whereas, the petitioners were not being considered as per their turn. They filed various representations and ultimately the present writ petition before this Court.
(3.) NOTICE was issued and reply is filed. Giving detailed history, it is conceded that in compliance with the judgment passed by this Court, the petitioners were promoted as Headmasters vide order dated 16.4.1991 (Annexure P -2). As per the reply, this order was subsequently substituted vide order dated 13.1.1992 (Annexure P -5). The petitioners, Mehar Chand and Gurdial Singh, being not satisfied with the order dated 13.1.1992, filed representations on 22.9.1998 (Annexure P -8 and P -9). Consequently on 14.8.2000, order (Annexure P -10) was passed re -fixing the seniority of the petitioners as Headmasters. It is then disclosed that this benefit was only given to the petitioners. Some other persons, who were also entitled to such benefit, namely Nafe Chand and sixteen others, belonging to scheduled caste category, filed Civil Writ Petition No. 3001 of 2002 praying for re -fixation of their seniority in the cadre of Headmaster. The said writ petition was disposed of on 18.2.2002 with the directions to the respondent to take a decision on the legal notice dated 15.11.2001. This necessitated the re -adjustment of the seniority of the petitioners as initially fixed. It is disclosed that the persons in the subsequent Civil Writ Petition (No. 3001 of 2002) were also required to be adjusted being from scheduled caste category and accordingly the entire seniority, which was earlier fixed, was needed to be re -fixed.;