State Of Himachal Pradesh And Others v. Narender Singh Naik

Dev Darshan Sud, Judge (Oral)

This appeal of the State challenges the judgment of the Hon'ble Single Judge allowing the Original Application filed by the respondent/petitioner numbered as CWP(T) No. 6785 of 2008.

2. The Hon'ble Single Judge records the fact that the petitioner/respondent was appointed as Junior Engineer vide order dated 3.1.1995 (Annexure A-3) with the application on contract basis after following due/regular selection procedure. The petition was disposed of on the ratio of the judgment of Supreme Court in Direct Recruit Class II Engineering Officers' Association v. State of Maharashtra(1990) 2 SCC 715.

3. The State challenges the judgment on a number of grounds inter alia that he was appointed only for a period of one year in view of Annexure A-2 and that the applicant had entered into a written agreement to the effect that he will work upto one year and thereafter the said agreement shall be treated as cancelled. It is also urged before us that the post to which the petitioner was appointed on contract basis is to be filled 50% through Public Service Commission and 50% on batch-wise according to the Recruitment and Promotion Rules. We are unable to accept these contentions, on the first, we note that the petitioner having been appointed on contract basis after following due process of selection it is not open to the State to urge that his regularisation is not in accordance with law. On the point urged that the post is to be filled up through Public Service Commission and batch-wise ratio effected supra, this submission is based on the Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 2007 and not on the basis of the Rules applicable to the petitioner/respondent, who was appointed in accordance with 1979 Rules. The Rules of 2007 cannot be held to be retrospective. In these circumstances, we do not find any merit in the appeal which is accordingly dismissed, so also the pending application.