Deepak Joshi vs State Of Uttarakhand And Others

Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J

Petitioner was engaged as a daily wage employee in Tea Development Project in the year 1995; Uttarakhand Tea Development Board came into existence w.e.f. 11.02.2004 and petitioner became a daily wage employee in the said Board and his services on the post of Lab Supervisor were ultimately regularized in the year 2014.

By means of the present writ petition, petitioner has sought the following reliefs:-

i. Issue a writ, order or direction in nature of quashing the order dated 01.05.2018 passed by respondent no.1 (contained as Annexure No.7 to this writ petition).

ii. Issue a writ, rule, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding and directing the respondents to pay the salary and its arrears to the petitioner for the post of Soil Analyst.

iii. Issue a writ, rule, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding and directing the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for promotion to the post of Soil Scientist in terms of Uttarakhand Tea Development Board (Group'A','B','C', 'D' officers/employees establishment) Service Rules, 2016.

Petitioner is challenging Government order dated 01.05.2018 issued by Secretary, Horticulture and Sericulture Department, whereby, administrative approval was granted for amending the regulations applicable to employees of Uttarakhand Tea Development Board, consequent upon restructuring of Cadre.

Petitioner is particularly aggrieved by the stipulation made in Clause-7 of Appendix 'A' to the said government order, which provides that the lone post of Soil Scientist will be filled by direct recruitment and one must possess M.Sc. Agriculture (Soil Science/Agriculture Chemistry) or M.Sc. Chemistry, from a recognized University with minimum 05 years experience of soil analysis from a reputed institution.

Learned counsel for petitioner contends that the stipulation made in Column 7 is contrary to the provision made in Clause 16 of Appendix 'A' to the Service Regulations applicable to the employees of Uttarakhand Tea Development Board. Clause-16 of the Service Regulation provided that the post of Soil Scientist shall be filled by promotion from Lab Supervisors, with 10 years experience in soil analysis and provides for preference to persons having 10 years experience in soil analysis.

Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that right to be considered for promotion to the post of Soil Scientist, which was available to petitioner under the regulations, cannot be taken away by State Government by issuing executing instructions.

He further submits that consequent to issuance of impugned Government Order, petitioner lost the only avenue of promotion and now, he will stagnate on the post of Lab Supervisor to which he was appointed.

Learned State Counsel, per contra, submits that the Service Regulations applicable to employees of Uttarakhand Tea Development Board are not statutory in nature. He submits that Board was established under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and these regulations were framed by the Society for regulating its internal affairs and they are not referable to any statute or in other words, source of power to make regulations cannot be traced to any statute. He thus submits that the regulations, which petitioner relies upon, are not law and they can be amended by the State Government.

He submits that Board was created by the State Government and it is fully funded by the State, therefore, State Government was well within its right to issue the Government Order dated 01.05.2018. He further contends that opening sentence of that Government Order indicates that it was issued based on the request made by Director, Uttarakhand Tea Development Board. He further submits that occasion for issuing that Government Order arose because Cadre of the Board was restructured vide Government Order dated 17.02.2017 and 25 additional posts were created.

10 Learned State Counsel further submits that petitioner is not a government servant, but he is employee of the Society. He further submits that the condition of having Masters Degree was felt necessary for appointment to the post of Soil Scientist and there is nothing unreasonable about that requirement. He also submits that petitioner do not have any vested right of promotion, therefore, the challenge thrown by him to Government Order dated 01.05.2018 is unfounded.

Learned State Counsel further points out that as per the Regulations relied upon by petitioner, one must have ten years service on the post of Lab Supervisor to become eligible for promotion, while petitioner had served for only 04 years on the date when the Government Order dated 01.05.2018 was issued, thus, he was not eligible. He further contends that petitioner would have become eligible for promotion to the post of Soil Scientist, if Regulations were not amended, only in the year 2024 while the Regulations were amended much earlier in 2018.

This Court finds substance in the submission made by learned State Counsel. Petitioner was not eligible for promotion to the post of Soil Scientist in 2018 when Regulations were amended by the State Government on the asking of Director, Uttarakhand Tea Development Board, therefore, no accrued or vested right of petitioner was affected by the impugned Government Order. Even otherwise also, as Employer, the Society can determine mode of recruitment to a particular post and it can also prescribe higher qualification for appointment to senior position such as Soil Scientist. Similarly, State Government can exercise its power to amend the Regulations for bringing about some change in mode of appointment and/or qualification needed for a post. Thus, there is no scope for interference.

In view of the above, the present writ petition fails and is dismissed.

All pending applications in these petitions also stand disposed of.