Prem Chand Jain, J. - (1.) THIS judgment and order of ours will dispose of Civil Writ Petitions Nos. 157, 63, 135, 158, 161, 210 and 280 of 1978, as common questions of law and fact are involved in these petitions. In order to appreciate the contentions, which were advanced before us by the learned Counsel for the parties on either side, it would be appropriate to notice certain salient facts, which have been taken from Civil Writ No. 157 of 1978, and read as under: The Petitioner joined service in the Public Works Department of the Punjab Government as a direct recruit to the Punjab Service of Engineers, Class II, on December 22, 1970. The promotion to the post of Executive Engineer is governed by the statutory rules, called the Punjab Service of Engineers, Class I, P.W.D. (Building and Roads Branch) Rules, 1960, (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). According to the Rules, all the eligible Class II officers are considered for promotion to Class I by a Screening Committee constituted under the Rules. The case of the Petitioner, along with other eligible officers, was considered by the Screening Committee and the said Committee declared 24 Class II officers, including the Petitioner, eligible for promotion to Class I. After declaring 24 class II officers eligible for promotion to Class I, the Screening Committee selected 14 Class II officers and declared them to be fit for promotion as Executive Engineers. The name of the Petitioner was included in the said list of 14 persons. On the basis of that selection, the Petitioner, along with 13 other officers, was promoted to the post of Executive Engineer by an order dated July 5, 1975. The appointment was for a period of six months or till the time the approval of the Punjab Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) was received under the Rules.
(2.) IT is further stated that the cases of all the 14 officers, who were selected and appointed as Executive Engineers, along with the cases of other officers who were not found fit, were sent to the commission for necessary approval. Since the approval of the Commission was not forthcoming during the first six months of the appointment, the appointment of the Petitioner and other officers as Executive Engineers was extended from time to time. It appears that the Commission did not grant the approval and ultimately sent the whole list back to the Government. From the averments made in the petition, it comes out that the Petitioner, along with other 13 officers was reverted to the post of the Sub -Divisional Engineer, - -vide order dated December 29, 1977, and by another order of the same date, 21 Class II officers, including 12 those officers who were reverted on the same day, have again been promoted as Executive Engineers. In the said list, the name of the Petitioner did not find mention, with the result that the present petitions have been filed for the issuance of an appropriate order or direction quashing the order of Respondent No. 1, dated December 29, 1977, reverting the Petitioners from the post of Executive Engineer to that of the Sub -Divisional Engineer.
(3.) SEPARATE written statements have been filed on behalf of Respondent 1 and Respondent No. 2. Besides taking a preliminary objection that the promotion of the Petitioner being purely on ad hoc basis, no cause of action accrues to him for filing the present petition, Respondent No. 1 has controverted the stand of the Petitioner on merits, inter alia, on the grounds that the recommendations of the Screening Committee were subject to the final approval of the Commission, that the Petitioner became eligible for consideration for promotion to P.S.E. Class I on the basis of the relaxation accorded by the Government in exercise of its power under Rule 22, that the recommendations made by the Screening Committee on the basis of the criteria adopted by the Government for making P.S.E. Class II officers eligible for promotion to Class I by invoking its power of relaxation under Rule 22 had resulted in large -scale supersession of some senior officers, that the commission did not approve of the ad hoc promotions as in its view the criteria adopted by the Government for making Class II officers eligible for promotion was unjust, that the Government considered the whole case afresh and again made relaxation in exercise of its power under Rule 22, with the result the 21 persons, including 11 out of those who were reverted, were promoted as Executive Engineers on ad hoc basis, that the Petitioner being junior in the list could not be promoted as Executive Engineer for want of vacancy, and that the promotions even now made are on ad hoc basis only as the same, are subject to the approval of the Commission.;