1. S. A. MAHMOOD (CHAIRMAN). This is an appeal by Mr. A. D. Nasir, Executive- Engineer (Irrigation) now Section Officer, of the Secretary, Irrigation and Power Department, Govern--ment of the Punjab, Lahore, under section 4 (1) of the West Pakistan Civil Services (Appellate Tribunal)
2. Ordinance, 1969, by which he seeks to establish his seniority over respondents M/s. Shah Muhammad and Ghulam Sarwar Rais, who are also Executive Engineers posted at Gujranwala and Sheikhupura respectively and originally belonged to the Bahawalpur State Service of Engineers.
3. Mr. A. D. Nasir is present alongwith Mr. Pervaiz Akhtar, Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais and Mr. Shah Muhammad and Mr. Muhammad Khalil Qureshi, Section Officer, Irrigation & Power Department for Government of the Punjab, respondent No. 1 and Mr. Manzoor Ali Qureshi, Supdt. Punjab Public Service Commission, on behalf of the Public Service Commission, respon--dent No. 2 appeared before us. The appellant, claims seniority over respondents Nos. 3 and 4 on the basis of earlier order of appointment, and thus being senior to them as Assistant Engineers, he also claims to be senior to them in the rank of Executive Engineer officiating.
4. Briefly stated the facts are that a letter of appointment as Assistant Engineer in Class II was issued to the appellant on 14-6-52. He accepted the offer of appointment and joined as Assistant Engineer on 12-7-52. He was confirmed from that date. He has been promoted as Officiating Executive Engineer from 17th September 1960, but he took over on 17th October 1960.
5. Mr. Shah Muhammad respondent No. 3 joined the Baha--walpur State Service of Engineers as Assistant Engineer in Class II on 16th May 1951, and was confirmed from that date. He took over on promotion as Executive Engineer offici--ating on 12-7-1958. He has been promoted to Class I Jr. from 14-10-1955.
6. Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais was appointed as Assistant Engineer in Clause II in the Bahawalpur State Service of Engineers on 20th January 1954. He took over on promotion as Executive Engineer officiating on 27th January 1960. It will be noted that this officer was appointed as Assistant.
7. Engineer later than the appellant.
8. The appellant was appointed as Assistant Engineer during the operation of Punjab Service of Engineers Class II Rules, 1941. Rule 9 of these Rules provided that seniority of the Members of the Service shall be determined in accordance with the order of their appointment to the service and if two or more members are appointed on the same date, the order of seniority will be according to age. The appellant has been given seniority over Mr. M. H. Siddiqi, Mr. Nasir Ahmad and Mr. Munir Ahmad Siddiqi lay the Governor of West Pakistan by his order dated 3rd August 1960 on the basis of rule 9 (1) of these Rules on the basis of age, as they were selected on the same date, but joined service on different dates. Though the rule of seniority in the case of the appellant was rule 9 of the above --quoted Rules, the rule of integration in integrating Punjab and Bahawalpur Officers was provided in paragraph 14 of the Integ--ration Circular dated the 25th November 1955, which is to the following effect:-- "For the purposes of integration, the seniority of all pre---unification officers will be determined with reference to the date of continuous appointment, substantive or otherwise, to the grade, as defined in para.16 below. In case two officers are bracketed together, owing to their appointment taking effect from the same date, the older officer wall be given seniority over the other. The orders in this paragraph are subject to the proviso that the inter se seniority of officers belonging to the same integrating unit will not be altered. Thus if in the former Punjab, an officer was placed above another officer with longer continuous officiation in the grade, the former will be placed first on the integrated list with reference to the date of his continuous officiation. The latter officer will be placed immediately below him. The same rule applies if the former officer has been placed in the Punjab above more than one officer with longer continuous officiation. In that case, these officers would go immediately below him in the integrated list as a group and in the same order.
9. Thus under the above paragraph, seniority to each sub-cadre has to be prepared and maintained intact and in integrating Punjab Officers with Bahawalpur Officers, the date of continuous officiation has to be the rule of seniority subject to the rider provided in the above paragraph It is argued fin behalf of the appellant that the date of continuous appointment icy the case of the appellant means the date of appointment order as provided in the Punjab Service of Engineers Class II Rules, 1941, and he should be deemed to have continuous service with effect from 14-6-52 and as such should rank senior to M /s. Shah Muhammad and Ghulam Sarwar Rais, respondents.
10. We are unable to accept the contention that the date of continuous appointment means the date of order of appointment or the date of issue of offer of appointment. Thedate ofcontinuous appointment for purposes of paragraph 14, of the Circular 1etter obviously means the date of actual taking over formal order of appointment. On this basis, Mr. Shah Muhammad respondent No. 3 has longer date of continuous officiation having joined Bahawalpur State services of engineers as Assistant Engineer on 16-6-52, when the appellant joined as Assistant Engineer in Punjab on 12-7-
52. The appellant's date of continuous appointment is, however rider than that of Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais, respondent No. 4 and he should have ranked senior to him, but for the rider in para.14 which determines their rule of seniority and accord--ing to which Punjab Officers had to be integrated with the Bahawalpur State Service Officers. The appellant has gone down in seniority below Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais for the following reasons:- Mr. Manzoor Hassan having been appointed as temporary Engineer on the 21st November 1947 and promoted to Class II on 1-2-52 began to draw higher pay under rule 9 (2) of the Punjab Service of Engineers Class II Rules and thus became senior to the appellant on promotion. His seniority over the appellant had to be maintained in integrating the appellant with Bahawalpur Officers. As the date of continuous appoint--ment of Mr. Manzoor Hassan was 1-2-54 and he controlled all officers below him, he had to rank junior to Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais who became Assistant Engineer in Bahawalpur State on 20-1-54. Thus unfortunately, the appellant has lost in seniority to Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais, respondent by opera--tion of paragraph 14 of the Integration Circular which provides the basis of Integration and fixation of their inter se seniority in service. The result is that Mr. Ghulam Sarwar Rais became senior to the appellant in the rank of assistant Engineer in Class 11.
11. As the appellant became junior Mo respondents Nos. 3 and 4 as Assistant Engineer in Class II and as he was promoted as officiating Executive Engineer on 17-10-60 he can have no claim to seniority over them in the rank of officiating Executive Engineer. It may be, as is contended that M/s. Shah Muhammad and' Ghulam Sarwar Rais may have been promoted as offici--ating Executive Engineers earlier than the appellant because they were deemed senior to him as Assistant Engineers, but the fact remains that the appellant is unable to establish his seniority over them.