' S. ABDUL JABBAR KHAN (CHAIRMAN).-This is an appeal filed by Mr. Muhammad Inayat Ullah, an ex- Patwari Consolidation under section 4 of the Punjab Service Tribunal Act of 1974 whereby the order dated 2nd February, 1981 passed by D.C./Collector, Lahore has been challenged. It has been, by virtue of this, prayed that as the order was not passed by the competent authority therefore, the same may be set aside, and the appellant be re-instated in the service.
' The brief facts of the case are that Mr. Inayat Ullah was basically Sub-Inspector Consolidation in the Co-operative Department and was later on absorbed as Patwari Consolidation in Lahore District in the year 1960. He has been retired under clause (ii) of section 12 of the Punjab Service Tribunal Act of 1974 by D.C./Collector, Lahore.
' We have heard the learned counsel for the appellant as well as the representative of the Department. The main point urged by the learned counsel for the appellant in this case is that under the P. C.
0. Itself it has been laid down that only competent authority can retire a person under the above mentioned clause and the. Act. It has been submitted that competent authority in the case of appellant would only be A. D. C. And nobody else. Number of cases decided by this Tribunal earlier in which it was decided that in the case of Consolidation Patwari A. C. Would not be competent authority person to take action and vis-a-vis others. We have given our anxious thought to the contention raised before us and found from the record that the action against the appellant can only have been taken by the Additional Commissioner, Consolidation and none else. The Collector of the District will no more would be considered a competent 4 authority in this case. This has been the sine qua non of the P. C.
0. Of 1981 itself. We have no alternative but to set aside order of retirement so made by a person who was not competent.
' The appeal is accepted and is directed that the appellant be re-instated in service.