Madan Lal and Others vs State of Punjab

Augustine George Masih, J.

C.M. No. 6221 of 2013

Prayer in this application is for permission to place on record the representation. Prayer granted. Representation is taken on record.

Application stands disposed of.

CWP No. 9325 of 2011

Petitioners have approached this Court with a grievance that despite there being 5 posts available for consideration for promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder), claim of the petitioners for promotion is not being considered on the ground that they do not possess the requisite experience of 15 years as a Fodder Development Officer.

Counsel for the petitioners contends that the petitioners are serving as Agriculture Development Officers, Fodder. They have experience of more than 15 years of the said post. As per the Statutory Rules, promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder), which is a 100% promotional post, is that a person who is a Feed and Fodder Development Officer working in the department with an experience of minimum of 15 years would be entitled to consideration for promotion as a Joint Director. In the year 1993, a notification dated 21.06.1993 was issued by the Government merging the cadre of Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) and Fodder Development Officer. This resulted into one cadre coming into existence. He, therefore, contends that as of now, there is a single cadre of Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) and Fodder Development Officer and, therefore, the experience as an Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) and the Fodder Development Officer has to be treated as one and the said experience obtained by an employee either on one post or both the posts has to be taken as the requisite experience of promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder). On this basis, he contends that the petitioners now fulfilling the requisite experience for promotion to the post of Joint Director should be considered as eligible for promotion and their claims considered accordingly.

Counsel for the respondents, on the other hand, asserts that the post of Fodder Development Officer in the Department of Animal Husbandry was a group ''A'' post and the post of the Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) has been brought in Group ''A'' on 20.10.2000 and, therefore, the experience gained by an employee on the post of Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) cannot be taken into consideration for promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder). The Statutory Rules still provide for promotion from the post of Fodder Development Officer and the requisite experience of 15 years on the said post and, therefore, the candidature of the petitioner cannot be considered for promotion.

I have considered the submissions made by the counsel for the parties and with their assistance, have gone through the records of the case.

Although the statutory Rules i.e. the Punjab Animal Husbandry (Class-I) Rules, 1996, provide for promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder) experience as Fodder Development Officer with minimum 15 years of such service but with the merger of two cadres of Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) and Fodder Development Officer vide a notification dated 21.06.1993 into a single cadre, there were no separate cadres. Earlier promotion to the post of Fodder Development Officer was to be made from the post of Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) but with the merger of the two cadres into one, the two posts do not exist separately. Although the Statutory Rules do depict them separately but for all intents and purposes and for all practical purposes, the same do not exist after the notification issued by the respondents dated 21.06.1993. The effect thereof is that the experience gained by an employee on the post of an Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) as also the Fodder Development Officer will have to be taken into consideration for calculating the experience for consideration for promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder). With this position, it cannot be said that the experience of the petitioners on the post of Assistant Agriculture Development Officer (Feed and Fodder) cannot be taken into consideration for promotion to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder) especially when the post of Fodder Development Officer does not exist separately as of now with the merger. The petitioners, therefore, are eligible for consideration to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder).

In view of the above, the present writ petition is allowed. A direction is issued to the respondents to consider the claim of the petitioners as also other similarly placed employees who fulfill the requisite experience for consideration to the post of Joint Director (Feed and Fodder) and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order. Counsel for the parties informed the Court that petitioner No. 1, namely, Madan Lal stands retired on 31.05.2012 during the pendency of the writ petition but that shall not have any effect on consideration of the claim of the petitioner on the existing post, if any, of the Joint Director, when the petitioner had approached this Court.