1. S. A. MAHMOOD (CHAIRMAN).-This is an appeal by Mr. Ahmed Nawaz Qureshi, Stenographer, under section 8(1) of the Punjab Civil Services (Appellate Tribunals) Ordinance, 1970, whereby he claims the fixation of his seniority in the Health Directorate at Lahore, to which he was assigned by order of the Secretary, Health Department, Government of West Pakistan, dated 1-8-1968. He claims seniority over Khawaja Azhar Mahmood, Mr. Faiz Muhammad and Mian Muhammad Farooq, respondents Nos. 2 to 4.
2. Mr..Ahrilad-Nawaz Qureshi, appellant, is present in person and has argued his own case. The Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Health Department, is represented before us by Mr. Riaz Ali Shah, Assistant in the office of the Secretary Health. Respondents 2 to 4 are present in person.
3. Khawaja Azhar Mahmood, respondent No. 2 was appointed as a Stenographer on 15-1-1955. He is now posted as Superintendent in the Health Directorate, Punjab. Mr. Faiz Muhammad, respondent No. 3 was recruited as a Junior Clerk before Partition. He was appointed as Accountant in the Nishtar Hospital, Multan, on 16-8-1954. He was transferred to Bhawalpur as Head Clerk on 11-12-1961 and on Re-organization of the Health Department on 7-5-1962, when six regions were created in West Pakistan, he was allocated to the Bahawalpur Region, where he was posted as Superintendent. From 1-3-1971, the regional offices have been abolished, and Divisional offices have been created at all the Divisions of the Punjab Province under a Director of Health Services.
4. Mian Muhammad Farooq, respondent No. 4 was recruited as a Junior Clerk, and was posted as Assistant on 10-12-1953, He is now Senior Superintendent in the Health Directorate at Lahore. He has been confirmed as Superintendent.
5. The appellant was appointed as a Stenographer in a temporary vacancy to the Nishtar Medical College, Multan on, 10-8-1953. -The post to which he was appointed was advertised in 1956 and it was stated that it was temporary, but was likely to become permanent in due course. The incumbent was to be on the general strength of Stenographers of the Department of Health Services of West Pakistan and was liable to transfer to any similar post in the exigencies of service.
6. Thus it is claimed by the appellant that the post to which he was appointed and posted was on the general strength of Stenographers of the Department of Health Services. The appellant was transferred to the Health Directorate at Lahore on 22-2-1956 and he became Stenographer to the Director of Health Services. On 20-9-1958, he was temporarily transferred as Stenographer in the office of the Health Adviser, Government of West Pakistan; by order of the Secretary, Health Department, West Pakistan, but his lien was retained in the Health Directorate. On his application to join the Settlement Department, he was allowed to join that depart--ment from 4-6-1959. He remained in that department up to 15-5-1960 when he was declared surplus there. The conditions on which he was accepted by the Settlement Department were not, however, settled and the Department refused to contribute towards his pension and leave salary. Before his reversion to the Health Department, he was confirmed by the Health Department in the office of the Administrator Nishtar Medical College, Multan, by order dated 14-9-1959, w.e.f. 1-3-1953. On 6-7-1970, he was ordered to join the office of the Administrator, Nishtar Medical College, Multan in place of Mr. Manzoor Ahmad Parvaiz, Stenographer, who stood transferred, but this order was cancelled by the Director of Health Services on 12-7-1970, and the appellant was directed to report instead to the Joint Organization of Sanitary Engineers at once. This is stated to be a post under the Health Directorate and a temporary post. He was posted against a temporary post in that Organization and it was stated in the order that his seniority would be fixed from the date he joined the Health Directorate after his reversion from the Settlement Department, i.e. from 16-5-1960. The appellant represented against the fixation of his seniority from 16-5-1960 on 15-7-1970, but was not afforded any relief. Then the appellant applied to the West Pakistan Rangers for being accepted as a Stenographer. The Rangers having no objection to accepting him as a Stenographer, he took over with the Rangers on 19-6-1961. He remained with the Rangers up to 16-7-1968. He reported back to the Health Department at the end of July 1968 and was posted to the office of Administrator, Nishtar Medical College Multan. While the appellant was on deputation with the west Pakistan Rangers, the department of Health Services was re-organised and regional offices were set up in West Pakistan. The officers serving the department were allocated to various regions, but the appellant was not so allocated, may be because he was not then serving in the depart--ment. On his reversion to the Health Department, in July 1968, the Secretary Health Department allocated him, to the Lahore Region on 1-8-1968, but the Director of Health Services was not willing to accept him and made a back reference to have the orders of the Secretary Health modified. On 27-11-1968, the decision to allocate him in the Lahore Region in the office of the Health Directorate was reiterated. It was not. until a meeting took place in the office of the Secretary Health in February 1969, that the appellant was accepted in the Lahore Directorate for service as Stenographer. He was then posted in the K. E. Medical College, Lahore, where he joined on 22-2-1969. The appellant requested his posting in the office of the Health Directorate instead of the K. E. Medical College, Lahore, but his prayer was not accepted. It appears that the Directorate of Health Services had taken up the matter of allocation of the appellant to the Lahore Directorate with the Secretary, Health Department, objecting to his allocation to the Lahore Region. On 25-8-1970, the Secretary Health conveyed an order reversing the orders of 1-8-1968 and 27-11-1968 and directed that as the appellant had a lien in the Nishtar Medical College Multan, he is transferred to Multan Region for posting against his substantive post. In the copy to the Director of Health Services, Multan Region, it was further directed that his seniority should be fixed in the Directorate of Health Services, Multan, from 16-5-1960, from which date he was re-absorbed in the Directorate of Health Services, West Pakistan. The appellant feels aggrieved by this order and the direction that his seniority be determined w. e. f. 16-5-1960. He further complains of his name not being published amongst Stenographers in the latest list of seniority of Lahore Region as on 30-1-1971. He claims that his name should figure at proper place of seniority on the basis of date of continuous appointment as Stenographer, namely, 10-8-1953. He relies on the list of seniority of 1958 in which his name appears on page 18 with the date of continuous appointment as Stenographer as 10-8-1953.
7. The first contention raised on behalf of the appellant is that once having been allocated to the Directorate of Health Services at Lahore by order dated 1-8-1968, that order having been implemented by his taking over, it is not competent for the Secretary Health to review the order of his predecessor or alter it after it had been acted upon. In support of his contention, he relies on a decision of the Supreme Court in Shahbaz v. Crown (1), and a decision of a Division Bench of the High Court of West Pakistan, in Writ Petition No. 179-S of 1968, Abdus Attar and another v. Director of Health Services, Lahore Region. Title decisions in these two cases fully support the contention raised on behalf of the appellant. In the case decided by the Division Bench of the High Court of West Pakistan, the petitioners were dismissed, but their appeal was later accepted and re-instatement of the petitioners was directed. The orders were conveyed to the petitioners and they reported for duty. It was held that the order of re-instatement was implemented and section 21 of the General Clauses Act could not be pressed into service once the orders were conveyed to the petitioners and they were re-instated and the order could not be withdrawn or cancelled subsequently. In the present case, the order of allocation of the appellant to the Health Directorate having been) made, conveyed and acted upon, there was no power in the Secretary, Health Department, to review or rescind the order of -his predecessor. Thus the appellant's allocation to Lahore Region could not be ordered, except by transfer under rule 10 of the West Pakistan Health Department Ministerial Establish--ment (Regional) Recruitment Rules, 1964.
8. It has further been contended on behalf of the respondents that as the appellant's lien was retained in the office of Administrator, Nishtar Medical College, the appellant had to be allocated to that College. In that connection, it has been pointed out that the very post to which be was appointed and where his lien was retained was a post on the regional strength of Stenographers of the Department of Health Services, West Pakistan, and the incumbent was liable to transfer in the exigencies of service. The order of allocation of the appellant to the Lahore Directoratewhich became effective and was actually acted upon, could not be altered or reviewed on the ground that the lien of the appellant was retained in the Nishtar Medical College. It should be remembered in this connection that when the Re-organisation of the Health Department took place the allocation of the officers had to be done according to the policy laid down for allocation. We have not been told what particular policy was provided but we are entitled to presume that the allocation of the appellant to the Health Directorate Lahore was not contrary to the policy laid down or any direction or instructions in that behalf, since the impugned order does not say so.
9. Since the appellant has come to us because his seniority has not been determined in the Directorate of Health Services at Lahore and a wrong date for fixation of his seniority has been communicated to the Director of Health Services, Multan, his seniority is to be determined in accordance with rule 9 of the West Pakistan Health Department Ministerial Establishment (Regional) Recruitment Rules, 1964, which provides as follows.
10. "9. Seniority.-(1) The seniority inter se of the members of the Establishment in the- various grades thereof shall be determined-
(a) in tire case of members appointed by initial recruitment in accordance with the order of merit assigned by the Selection Board appointing authority ; provided that person selected for the Establishment in an earlier selection shall rank senior to the persons selected in a later selection ; and
(b) in the case of members appointed otherwise, with reference to the date of their continuous appointment therein; provided that if the date of continuous appointment in the case of two or more members of the Establishment is the same the older official if not junior to the younger official or officials in the next below grade, shall rank senior to the younger official or officials. Explanation L-If a junior official in a lower grade is promoted to a higher grade temporarily in the public interest, even though continuing later permanently, in the higher grade, it would not adversely affect the interest of his seniors in the fixation of his seniority in the higher grade.
11. Explanation IL-If a junior official in a lower grade is promoted to a higher grade by superseding a senior official and subsequently that official is also promoted, the official promoted first shall rank senior to the official promoted subsequently.
12. Explanation III.-A junior official appointed to a , higher grade shall be deemed to have superseded a senior official only if both the junior and the senior officials were considered for the higher grade and the junior official was appointed in preference to the. senior official.
(2) The Seniority in the various grade of the Establishment of the members appointed by initial recruitment vis-a-vis these appointed otherwise shall be determiaed-
(a) in case both the official appointed by initial recruitment and the official appointed otherwise have been. appointed against substantive vacancies, or both have been appointed against temporary vacancies, with reference to the date of appointment to such vacancies in the case of the official appointed by initial recruitment and to the date of continuous appointment against such vacancy in the case of the official appointed otherwise ; provided that if the two dates are the same the official appointed otherwise shall rank senior to the official appointed by initial recruitment ;
(b) in case the official appointed by initial recruitment has been appointed against a substantive vacancy and the official appointed otherwise has been appointed against a temporary vacancy, the official appointed by initial recruitment shall rank senior to the offcial appointed otherwise; and
(c) in case the official appointed otherwise is appointed against a substantive vacancy and the official appointed by initial recruitment is appointed against a temporary vacancy, the official appointed otherwise shall rank senior to the official appointed by initial recruitment."
13. Under sub-rule (1) of rule 9, the appellant is entitled to count his seniority vis-a-vis direct recruits from 10-8-1953, which is the date of his appointment as Stenographer, and against promotees under sub-rule (2) of rule 9. The dates of appointment of the respondents have been mentioned above. We are not determining the seniority of the appellant vis-a-vis the respondents who are promotees and are leaving their seniority to be determined by the Department under sub-rule (2) of rule 9.
14. It may, however, be mentioned that Mr. Faiz Muhammad having been allocated to Bahawalpur Region arid seniority having been determined on regional basis, his seniority vis-a-vis the appellant is not to be determined. Our attention has also been drawn to amendment of the 1964 Rules by Notification No. S. O. XVIII.1.47/63, darted the 9th December 1965, in which the following Note occurs "Note.-A common seniority list shall be maintained of Assistants and Stenographers in the Establishment and Head Clerks/Senior Accountants in the Subordinate Offices for the purposes of promotion to the posts of Superintendents provided that notwithstanding anything contained to the proviso to clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 9, where the date of continuous appointment of an Assistant, a Head Clerk, a Senior Accountant and a Stenographer or any two or'-more of them is the same.
15. (a)An Assistant shall be deemed to be senior, to a Head Clerk, a Senior Accountant and a Stenographer, (b)a Head Clerk shall be deemed to be senior to a Senior Accountant and a Stenographer; and
(c) a Senior Accountant shall be deemed to be senior to a Stenographer."
16. It has been pointed out in this connection that the word "Establishment" is defined in clause (g) of - rule 2 of the 1964 Rules. Thus it is contended that Stenographers in the Subordinate offices are not covered by these rules for promotion as Superintendent. We are not deciding this question as .we are directing the determination of seniority first by the department in accordance with the rules.
17. For the reasons stated above, we order as above, leaving the parties to bear their own costs.