DINA NATH SHARMA ETC. Vs. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS ETC.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This and the connected writ petitions have been heard together in as much as besides the points individual to them they raise an important question concerning the reservation of posts for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

(2.) In this case we are concerned with the Himachal Pradesh Public Relations and Tourism Department Class III Non -ministerial (Non -Gazetted) Services (Recruitment, Promotion and Certain Conditions of Service) Rules, 1966. The rules were made by the President under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution. Rule 7 provides for the method of recruitment to various posts. The post of Drama Inspector is shown at serial No. 19 of that rule. It indicates two modes of recruitment, one is by selection to the extent of 50 per cent from amongst the categories of Actors, Harmonium Masters and Stage Masters and the other is by direct appointment to the extent of 50 per cent. The posts of Assistant Radio Engineer are shown at serial No. 20 of the rule. They are to be filled by selection to the extent of 25 per cent from the category of Projector Operators and Projector -cum -Driver, provided they are qualified Radio Mechanics, and to the extent of 75 per cent from amongst Radio Mechanics. The first proviso to Rule 7 lays down that the Departmental Promotion Committee should frame the merit list for promotion to the posts mentioned in the rules giving due representation to the members of all grades in the service as may be eligible for promotion under it. The second proviso relates to the posts to be filled in by direct recruitment and lays down that 23 per cent and 5 per cent of the posts will be filled up from candidates belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Rule 8 enumerates posts classified as selection posts, and they include the posts of Drama Inspector and Assistant Radio Engineers. Rule 10(4) provides for the seniority of promotees. Clause (ii) thereof declares that where promotions to a higher grade in the service are made from more than one grade the eligible persons shall be arranged in separate lists in the order of their relative seniority in their respective grades, and thereafter the Departmental Promotion Committee would select persons for promotion from each list up to the prescribed quota and arrange all the candidates selected from the different lists in a consolidated order of merit which would determine the seniority of persons for promotion to the higher grade. Rule 15 empowers the Government to relax the rules in certain cases,

(3.) In the present petition, Civil Writ Petition No. 19 of 1974, the Petitioner Dina Nath Sharma entered service in the Department of Public Relations of the State of Punjab on July 4, 1961. He was promoted to the post of Actor in 1964. The fourth Respondent, Baldev Raj, was appointed as a Harmonium Master on March 19, 1962, while the third Respondent Narpat Ram was appointed as a Stage Master on February 3, 1965. On November 1, 1966 all three were recruited as employees in the Union territory of Himachal Pradesh as constituted after the Re -organisation of Punjab. The three were shown as employees of the Department of Public Relations, Himachal Pradesh. The final joint seniority list issued on July 3, 1970 showed their inter se seniority in the separate categories to which they belonged. In the category of Actor, Dina Nath Sharma was shown at Serial No. 3. The entry discloses that he had not yet been confirmed. In the category of Stage Master, Narpat Ram was shown at serial No. 2. He was also shown as not confirmed. In the category of Harmonium Masters, Baldev Raj was shown at serial No. 1 and his date of confirmation was entered as June 6, 1966. The posts of Actor and Harmonium Master are not inter -changeable, and the officials have their seniority in their respective posts.