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1. This appeal is filed by the appellant Triveni Shankar Saxena questioning the correctness of the judgment dated 23.8.1982 rendered by the High Court of Allahabad, Lucknow Bench in Writ Petition No. 226 of 1980 allowing the said Writ Petition and quashing the order of the Uttar Pradesh Services Tribunal dated 6.10.1979. A few facts of the case as set out in Suit No. 367/74 filed before the Court of the Civil Judge, Moradabad may be stated :

2. The appellant was appointed as a Lekhpal by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Moradabad on 6.4.1953 at the circle of Village Tilokpur, Pargana in Moradabad District, which post he held from 6.4.53 to 12.3.54 at Tilokpur and thereafter from 13.3.54 to 15.11.54 in Village Thonda in Tehsil Moradabad.

3. In the wake of consolidation proceedings in the State of UP., the appellant was selected as a Consolidator on 5.11.1954 and was sent for training as a Consolidator at Rampur Training College, which he joined on 16.11.1954 and after completing the training he again joined his original posting on 12.2.55.

4. On 24.3.55 the appellant was appointed as a Consolidator in Saharanpur by the Commission of Consolidation, U.P. Government, Lucknow through the S.D.M. Moradabad and was relieved and sent on deputation. As a Consolidator the appellant was transferred from place to place in the normal course. He was transferred from Pilibhit on promotion as an Assistant Consolidation Officer (for short A.C.O.) at Azamgarh on 7.6.1967 and thereafter to Agra and to Lakhimpur. He was once again posted in Azamgarh as A.C.O. While it was so, the appellant received the order of termination of his services on 16.10.1971 from the Consolidation Commissioner, which order did not assign any reason. His case is that he was on deputation. According to the appellant, the only course left open to the Consolidation Commissioner was to revert him back to his substantive post, namely, Lekhpal to which he was having a lien in the District of Moradabad and that he was not given any opportunity of representing his case and was not served with any memo of charge for terminating him though he had put in 19 years of service without a break and that the order of termination is bad in law as being violative of Rules 14-A and 14-B of the Uttar Pradesh Fundamental Rules contained in Part-II of the Financial Handbook Volume II.

5. Being aggrieved by the order of termination (simpliciter), the appellant served a notice under Section 80 C.P.C. upon the Government and thereafter filed a Civil Suit No. 367 of 1974 in the court of Civil Judge, Moradabad to declare that the order of termination dated 16.10.71 passed by the Commissioner of Consolidation was illegal, void and infective and the appellant, having been being on deputation, was entitled to his original substantive post with full emoluments.

6. The claim of the appellant was denied by the first respondent (State of U.P.) inter alia submitting that the appointment of the appellant as Consolidator and thereafter as A.C.O. was quite temporary, that the services of the appellant were terminated only under the rules after paying one month's salary, that the claim of the appellant is not justifiable. Further, the case of the respondents is that the appellant held the post of Lekhpal in an officiating capacity and not in substantive capacity, that thereafter he applied for the post of Consolidator for which he was selected and posted on temporary basis and that he had no lien on the post of Lekhpal at the time of his appointment as Consolidator in the Department of Consolidation.

15. Mr. Gopal Subramanium appearing for the appellant took much pain in construing the expression 'lien' with reference to the definition of that word as found in the "UP. Fundamental Rules" and contended that the appellant should have been reverted back only to his original post and not terminated. In the counter affidavit (Annexure P. IV) filed on behalf of the second respondent, namely, S.D.M., Moradabad before the Tribunal, it is stated thus :

The petitioner did work as Lekhpal in an officiating capacity from 6.4.1953 to 15.11.1954 in Tilokpur Ghond District Moradabad...the petitioner was selected for the post of Consolidator in the Consolidation Department and he took training in Training center Rampur since 16.11.1954 to 11.2.1955. But it is absolutely wrong to say that he held a lien on the post of Lekhpal at the time of his appointment as Consolidator in the Department of Consolidation. As a matter of fact, he held regular post of a Lekhpal in a very short period in an officiating capacity and thereafter it so transpired that he had applied for the post of Consolidator for which he was selected and joined the post directly. No deputation was granted to him simply because of the fact he was not holding the post of Lekhpal in a substantive capacity.