STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS. Vs. MOHAN SINGH AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will dispose of Letters Patent Appeals No. 385 of 1966, Banarsi Dass Joshi and Ors. v. Mohan Singh and Letters Patent Appeals No. 463 of 1966 State of Punjab and Ors. v. Mohan Singh and Ors., as they are directed against the same order, dated October 3, 1966, of the learned Single Judge accepting the writ petition of Mohan Singh.

(2.) MOHAN Singh, Respondent in these appeals passed his B.A. examination from the Punjab University, Lahore, in 1935 and joined service as Kanungo at Rawalpindi in 1937. After receiving settlement training and training as revenue patwari on mahal side, he was appointed as Election Kanungo from May, 1941 to November, 1941 and thereafter again he worked as patwari till October 6, 1942. He worked as Field Kanungo from October 6. 1942, to October 12. 1943. and was then promoted as Naib Sadar Kanungo in the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Rawalpindi, where he worked as such up to September, 1945. He was confirmed as Kanungo on December 19, 1946. In July, 1951, he was promoted as Naib -Tahsildar (Rehabilitation) and worked in that capacity till December, 1952. He had then a choice to continue as Naib -Tahsildar, but he voluntarily accepted the office of District Kangungo entailing a loss of about Rs. 100 per mensem, during the period December 20. 1952 to February 20, 1956, in order to qualify himself for Tahsildarshio. He was posted as Betterment Naib -TahsiMar on July 18, 1956, and continued in that post till the end of the year. On January 1, 1957, he was posted as Head Vernacular Clerk >(Betterment) and was then later appointed as Head Vernacular Clerk to the Deputy Commissioner, Jullundur. This post came to be designated as Assistant Superintendent (Revenue and Record). Mohan Singh remained there up to April 10. 1961, when he was transferred as Assistant Superintendent (Revenue and Record), Ferozepur, which post he joined on April 19, 1961. He was promoted as Tehsildar (Border Demarcation), Ferozepur, which post he held up to May 17, 1963. He was appointed as Tahsildar (Sales) in the Rehabilitation Department at Rupar, with effect from June 5, 1963.

(3.) IN or about October, 1963, the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) forwarded to the Punjab Public Service Commission a case for the selection of 16 officials as 'B' class Tehsildars, 4 Zilledars, 7 Consolidation Officers and 4 members of the ministerial staff were recommended to be selected out of the persons whose particulars were forwarded to the Commission. Amongst the ministerial staff, the name of Chaman Lal was placed at the top and that of Mohan Singh at No. 3 in the list of four persons, who were recommended for selection from that category. The Public Service Commission was not informed of the fact that the question of inter se seniority between Chaman Lal and Mohan Singh was under consideration. Nor was the Commission intimated about the case of Chaman Lal's deconfirmation which was pending on the representation mads by Mohan Singh. About Mohan Singh, it was stated that he had worked as Naib -Tehsildar for about five years and as Tahsildar for six months and that he had good personality and health and due to his varied experience on the revenue side and his good record, he was expected to make a good Tehsildar. Admittedly, about 70 permanent vacancies on the cadre of Tahsildars were likely to occur up to the end of 1985, and the Government had allocated those vacancies to be filled up by 28 direct recruits ('A' class candidates), 28 Naib -Tehsildars, 4 Zilledars, 4 Head Vernacular Clerks or Superintendents, etc., 3 Consolidation Officers and 3 Panchayat Officers. According to paragraph 16 of the State's return to the writ petition, 3 out of 4 vacancies allocated to Head Vernacular Clerks were reserved for 3 erstwhile Pepsu Tehsildar candidates, namely, Hardev Singh, Dev Raj Sharma and Rattan Dev. Thus, only one person had to be appointed as 'B' Class Tehsildar out of the common category to which Mohan Singh and Chaman Lal belonged.