Kuldeep Singh And Others vs State Of Punjab And Others

Pankaj Jain, J

Present writ petition has been filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India by the petitioners seeking issuance of writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to count the service rendered by the petitioners as Special Police Officers (SPOs) as qualifying service for all service benefits including pensionary benefits, as the same has been granted by this Court vide judgment dated 15th of February, 2018 passed in CWP No.9936 of 2017 (Annexure P-5) titled as Sukhjeet Singh and others vs. State of Punjab and others.

Ld. Counsel for the petitioners at the outset contends that the legal notice served at the behest of the petitioners through their counsel is pending adjudication with the authorities and the same has been appended along with the present petition at Annexure P-10 and he limits his prayer for adjudication thereof in the light of the judgment rendered in Sukhjeet Singh's case (supra).

Notice of motion.

Mr. Sehajbir S. Aulakh, Asstt. Advocate General, Punjab accepts notice on behalf of the official respondents.

Without commenting on the merits of the case, the present petition is disposed off with a direction to respondent No.1 to decide the legal notice dated 13th of October, 2022 (Annexure P-10) served at the behest of the petitioners by passing a speaking/reasoned order taking into consideration the judgment rendered in Sukhjeet Singh's (supra) within a period of 8 weeks from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. In case of failure to do so, the officer responsible for the lapse would be liable to pay costs of Rs.20,000/- from his personal pocket, to be deposited with the Punjab and Haryana High Court Advocates Welfare Fund.