SHRI B. S. MEHTA Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who was officiating as an Assistant Director (Employment Exchanges), Directorate of Employment, Training and Technical Education, Delhi Administration and who had been confirmed as a Sub-Regional Employment Officer in 1966 has been aggrieved by the following two orders passed by the Delhi Administration:-

(2.) The facts relevant for the determination of their inter-se seniority tie as follows:- The petitioner was selected for the post of Sub-Regional Employment Officer in 1950 in the Directorate General of Resettlement and Employment, Ministry of Labour, Government of India, as a direct recruit by the Union Public Service Commission The Employment Service was decentralised and the employees were distributed among the States in 1956. The petitioner was allotted to the State of Uttar Pradesh as a Sub-Regional Employment Officer. He was confirmed in that post in Uttar Pradesh in 1958. The petitioner again came on deputation to the Government of India in 1959. He then went on deputation to the Delhi Administration in 1961. On 5-8-1966 he was confirmed as a Sub-Regional Employment Officer. He was confirmed in that post in Uttar Pradesh in 1958. The petitioner again came on deputation to the Government of India in 1959. He then went on deputation to the Delhi Administration in 1961. On 5-8-1966 he was confirmed as a Sub-Regional Employment Officer in a post which was to be filled up from among the employees of the Delhi Administration (as distinguished from the members of the DHANI Civil Service). In 1964 the Delhi Administration advertised two permanent posts of Sub-Regional Employment Officers and the Respondents 6 and 7 were selected by the Union Public Service Commission and were appointed to these posts by the Delhi Administration. In their affidavit filed on March 19, 1974, however, the Delhi Administration is admitted that the Respondents 6 and 7 were appointed "due to inadvertance or a bona fide mistake..................... against DHANI Civil Service posts. Actually no permanent ex-cadre posts of Sub-Regional Employment Officers were available at that time." In the same affidavit, the Delhi Administration has stated that "two Department posts of Sub-Regional Employment Officers were appointed in the year 1966." The Delhi Administration affidavit states further that "two permanent posts of S.R.E.Os. which had been included in the DHANI Civil Service were lying vacant as the relevant time in the year 1964. Respondents 6 aid 7 were app tinted against these two posts and were also made permanent with retrospective effect against these posts".

(3.) Like the petitioner, the Respondents 6 and 7 were also promoted to officiate as Assistant Directors in the Directorate of Employment, Training and Technical Education. Later one of the posts of Assistant Directors, namely, the post of Assistant Director (Employment Exchanges) which happened to be occupied by the petitioner was transferred to the DHANI Civil Service. This made it necessary that the said post should be filled by an officer of the DHANI Civil Service. As the Delhi Administration had decided that the petitioner was junior to Respondent No. 6, the Delhi Administration thought that among the three Assistant Directors, namely, the petitioner and Respondents 6 and 7, the petitioner should revert. The petitioner, therefore, filed the present writ it petition to challenge the orders of the Delhi Administration treating him as junior to Respondents 6 and 7 and thereafter reverting him to the post of Sub-Regional Employment Officer.