Himachal Pradesh High Court
Babu Ram vs State Of H.P. & Others on 15 March, 2021
Author: Ajay Mohan Goel
Bench: Ajay Mohan Goel
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
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CWPOA No.3655 of 2019
Decided on: 15.03.2021
Babu Ram ....Petitioner.
Versus
State of H.P. & others ...Respondents.
Coram
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1 No
For the petitioner : Mr. P.D. Nanda, Advocate.
For the respondents : Mr. Mr. Sumesh Raj, Mr. Dinesh
Thakur, Mr. Sanjeev Sood, Additional
Advocates General, with Ms. Divya
Sood, Mr. K.K. Chaudhary, Deputy
Advocates General, for the respondents
No.1 and 2.
Mr. Praveen Chauhan, Advocate, vice
Mr. L.N. Sharma, Advocate, for
respondents No.3 to 10.
Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge (Oral)
By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:-
1Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP 2
"This Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to quash impugned order Annexures P-3 and P-6.
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ii) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to direct the respondents to draw up seniority list of the Laboratory Attendants in accordance with law and thereafter convene the meeting of the DPC to fill up vacant posts of Lecturer Assistants."
2. The grievance of the petitioner primarily originates from the issuance of Office Order dated 02.05.2014 (Annexure P-3), vide which seniority of the petitioner as a Junior Lecturer Assistant was altered at his back and his old seniority number '36-A' was withdrawn and new seniority number '215-A' was assigned to him. This was followed by issuance of a Show Cause Notice, dated 17.05.2014, vide which the petitioner was called upon to show cause as to why the promotion conferred upon him against the post of Junior Lecturer Assistant, issued on 24.02.2014, be not withdrawn.
After the petitioner had submitted his response to the said Show Cause Notice, the promotion conferred upon him on ::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP 3 24.02.2014 against the post of Junior Lecturer Assistant was withdrawn by the authority concerned, vide Annexure P-6, .
dated 11.06.2014. It is in this background that the petitioner has approached this Court, praying for the reliefs already enumerated hereinabove.
3. When this case was herd on 09.03.2021, this Court r to has passed the following order:-
"By way of this petition, the petitioner has, inter alia, prayed for the following reliefs:
"This Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to quash impugned order Annexures P-3 and P-6.
ii) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to direct the respondents to draw up seniority list of the Laboratory Attendants in accordance with law and thereafter convene the meeting of the DPC to fill up vacant posts of Lecturer Assistants."
Mr. Nanda, learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the seniority of the petitioner as Junior Lecturer Assistant was arbitrarily revoked by the employer on the basis of purported re-fixation of seniority of the petitioner, ::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP 4 which was done vide Annexure P-3. He submits that the entire action of the respondent-
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Department of re-fixing the seniority and as a consequence thereof, withdrawing promotion conferred upon him against the post of Junior Lecturer Assistant is bad is law, as the petitioner was never given any opportunity of being heard by way of issuance of a show cause notice before his settled seniority was unsettled vide Annexure P-3. He has also drawn the attention of this Court to Annexure P-4, which is a show cause notice issued to the petitioner, perusal of which demonstrates that the said notice has been issued on 17th May, 2014, whereas, office order re-fixing the seniority of the petitioner was issued on 2nd May, 2014.
At this stage, learned Additional Advocate General submits that the case be taken up on 15th March, 2021, to enable him to have appropriate instructions as to whether any notice was issued to the petitioner before the issuance of Annexure P-3 or not.
As prayed for, list on 15th March, 2021."
::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP 54. Today, learned Additional Advocate General, on instruction, informs the Court that no Show Cause Notice was .
issued to the petitioner before issuance of Annexure P-3, though the seniority of the petitioner was rightly re-fixed as earlier promotion stood erroneously conferred upon him against the post of Junior Lecturer Assistant.
5. Be that as it may, in my considered view, as the revision of the seniority already conferred upon the petitioner against the post of Junior Lecturer Assistant which was altered vide Annexure P-3, has had grave civil consequences as far as petitioner is concerned which has adversely affected his promotion also, the same could have been done by the State without issuance of a Show Cause Notice and giving an opportunity to the petitioner as to why his seniority position be not altered.
6. Though, as has been pointed out by learned Additional Advocate General, this point has not been agitated by the petitioner in this petition in so many words, yet as the ::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP 6 principles of nature justice have been flouted at the time of issuance of Annexure P-3, it will be in the interest of justice in .
case Annexure P-3 is ordered to be set aside on this technical ground, however, with liberty to the employer to issue a fresh Show Cause Notice to the petitioner with regard to the purported wrong seniority assigned to him as a Junior law.
r to Lecturer Assistant and thereafter, proceed in accordance with
7. As this Court has quashed Office Order dated 02.05.2014 (Annexure P-3), the subsequent order issued by the appropriate authority (Annexure P-6), dated 11.06.2014, is ordered to be kept in abeyance and its fate will be determined by the outcome of the Show Cause Notice, if any, given by the employer to the petitioner with regard to his status/seniority as a Junior Lecturer Assistant.
8. Learned Additional Advocate General submits that some time bound direction be issued to all concerned with regard to issuance of Show Cause Notice and reply etc. It is, ::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP 7 therefore, ordered that in case, the employer is interested in issuance of a Show Cause Notice, then needful be positively .
done within three weeks from today. As from the date of receipt of Show Cause Notice, reply thereto be filed by the petitioner within two weeks. The employer shall, thereafter, take appropriate action within a period of four weeks as from
9.
r to the date of receipt of the reply.
It is clarified that in case no Show Cause Notice is issued to the petitioner by the employer, within a period of three weeks from today, then order dated 11.06.2014 (Annexure P-6) shall be deemed to have been quashed.
Petition is disposed of in above terms. Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, also stand disposed of.
(Ajay Mohan Goel) Judge March 15,2021 (Rishi) ::: Downloaded on - 17/03/2021 20:13:51 :::HCHP