SASHANKA KUMAR DAS Vs. CHIEF SECRETARY GOVT OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the petitioner in person, Mr P, Dey, learned Addl. CGSC, tor respondent No. 5 and Mr B.P, Marngar, learned senior Government Advocate, Mcghalaya, for respondent Nos. l, 2, 3 and 4.

(2.) The petitioner was appointed as LD Assistant in February 1969, and was promoted to the post of UD Assistant in the Rural Employment Bureau on 24.02.74. Thereafter, he was promoted to the post of Head Assistant in the Divisional Employment Exchange, Shillong in April 1996. He was not considered for promotion to the next higher post of Assistant Employment Officer in the Rural Employment Bureau. He has therefore filed this writ petition for direction to the respondents to fill up the post of Assistant Employment Officer on promotion and to restore the seniority position of the petitioner vis-a-vis his juniors by giving him promotional benefits with retrospective effect from 24.2.74.

(3.) At the hearing of the writ petition on 6.9.2001, the petitioner who appeared in person submitted that he was entitled to be considered for promotion to the post of Assistant Employment Officer under the procedural instructions prescribed for such promotion by the Director General, Employment and Training, Directorate of Employment Exchange, Ministry of Labour & Employment, New Delhi. But, he has been denied such promotion contrary to the said procedural instructions. Since the petitioner had not been able to lay his hands on a copy of the said procedural instructions despite all his efforts, this Court passed orders on 6.9.01, directing the Director General Employment and Training Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India, New Delhi, to produce authentic copy of the Employment Exchange minutes containing the instructions relating to promotion to the post of Assistant Employment Officer, Pursuant to the said direction, the Assistant Director of Employment Exchanges, has sent a communication dated 18/19,10.200! to the Addl. CGSC Shri P. Dey, and in the said communication has stated that the Director General of Employment and Training does not seem to have issued any Employment Exchange minutes from the year 1963 onwards against para No. 1.20 contained in the National Employment Service Manual (Vol. I). Along with the said communication, however, a copy of the Employment Exchange Minutes No. 19/1961, issued in the year 1961 regarding establishment and working of Employment Information and Assistant Bureau in rural areas has been enclosed. A perusal of the said copy of the Employment Exchange Minutes No. 19/1961 enclosed with communication dated 18/19.10.2001, shows that the said Employment Exchange minutes do not contain any procedural instructions with regard to promotion to the post of Assistant Employment Officer, In para 2 of the said communication dated 18/19.10.2001 of the Assistant Director Employment Exchanges to Shri P. Dey, Addl. CGSC, it is stated that the States have their set of recruitment procedures whereunder the officers and staff are recruited by them and the Director General of Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India, is not concerned with the procedural matters relating to the officers and staff posted in different Employment Exchanges administered under the respective State Governments. It is thus clear, that it is not the Director General Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India, who lays down the recruitment procedure including the procedure for promotion to the post of Assistant Employment Officer and it is the State Government who has to lay down such recruitment procedure including the procedure for promotion to the post of Assistant Employment Officer.