' SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.-- This order will dispose of five Intra-Court Appeals, registered as I.C.As, Nos, 103, 104, 105, 106 and 107, all of 1983. These appeals have been brought jointly by the Government of the Punjab and the Punjab Public Service Commission from the order of a learned Single Judge and the only question for consideration is whether the employees of the Federal Government are entitled to the benefit of a rule framed by the Provincial Government whereby Government servants have been given the benefit of the period of their continuous service in determining the upper age limit for appointment to posts under the Provincial Government.
2. The respondents in the five appeals are either employees of the Federal Government or are working in the establishment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. They were candidates in the competitive examination held by the Punjab Public Service Commission for recruitment to the posts of Civil Judges. It is not in dispute that if the benefit of the above-mentioned rule is not extended to them they would not be eligible to take the said examination on account of the age bar. The examination was held in January, 1983 and they were provisionally admitted to the examination subject to the decision of this Court with regard to their eligibility. It is not the case of any of the parties that the controversy arising in these appeals is a matter which falls within the jurisdiction of a Service Tribunal.
3. Recruitment to the posts of Civil Judges is governed by the West Pakistan Civil Servants (Judicial Branch) Rules, 1962. Rule 5 states that appointments to the service shall be made by initial recruitment on the recommendation of the Public Service Commission based on the result of a competitive examination. Rule 6 lays down that no person who is less than 21 years or more than 27 years of age shall be appointed to the service by initial recruitment. This rule is subject to a number of exceptions but these exceptions are not relevant for the purpose of these appeals. The Rules were kept alive by section 23(2) of the Punjab Civil Servants Act.
4. On 1-4-1976 the Governor of the Punjab made the Punjab Civil Servants Recruitment (Relaxation of Upper Age Limit) Rules. These rules were to be applicable to recruitment to all posts under the Provincial Government. Rule 3 of these rules reads as follows:- "Nothwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any rules applicable to any post or service:-
(i) in the case of the candidates from Scheduled Castes and Under-developed Areas, for a period of 10 years with effect from the commencing day of the Interim Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the upper age limit shall be relaxed by 3 years;
(ii) in the case of a person whose services under Government have been terminated for want of vacancy the period of service already rendered by him shall, for the purposes of upper age limit under any rule, be excluded from his age;
(iii) in the case of Ex-Defence personnel, the interval between the date of their release from the Defence Forces of Pakistan, including the Mujahid Force and the date of re-employment in a Civil Department subject to a maximum of seven years and the whole of the period of service rendered by them in such Forces shall, for the purposes of upper age limit under any rule, be excluded from their age, and
(iv) in the case of a person who has rendered national service under the Pakistan National Service Ordinance, 1970, the period actually spent by him in such service shall, for the purpose of upper age limit prescribed under any rule, for appointment to any service/post, be excluded from his age."
' On 14-6-1982 the Governor of the Punjab added another clause to rule 3. It reads as follows:- "(v) In the case of a candidate already working as a Government servant, the period of his continuous service as such shall, for the purpose of upper age limit prescribed under any service rules of the post for which he is a candidate, be excluded from his age."
' It is the construction of this clause, hereinafter referred to as the new clause, which is the sole matter of controversy between the parties before us. The case of the respondents is that they are also Government servants, albeit under the Federal Government, and as such they are also entitled to deduct the period of their continuous service in getting over the age bar for the purpose of the examination.
5. It appears that the Punjab Public Service Commission was itself not clear on the construction of the new clause and it sought guidance from the Provincial Government. By a letter, dated 26-10- 1982 the Provincial Government advised the Commission as follows:- "....The rules to he interpreted i,e, the Punjab Civil Servants Recruitment (Relaxation of Upper Age Limit) Rules, 1979 including clause (v) of rule 3 having been framed under section 23 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974, the definition of the word "Government' as given in clause (c) of subsection
(1) of section 2 of the said Act will apply to the said Rules. Clause (c) (ibid) defines "Government" as "Government of Punjab" and, therefore, the words "Government Servants" (which term has not been elsewhere defined) would mean Government Servants of the Government of the Punjab and none else. Clause (v) of rule 3 of 1976 Rules would accordingly, be applicable only in case of the servants of the Government of the Punjab and not to the employees of Central or other Provincial Government."
' Upon receipt of this letter the Commission rejected the candidature of the respondents.
Thereupon the respondents moved this Court in writ jurisdiction to call in question the legality of the orders of the Commission whereby their candidatures were rejected.
6. The learned Single Judge whose decision is in appeal before us thought that the expression "Government Servant" had been used in the new clause in its generic sense and as such it included Government servants of both the Federal Government and the Provincial Government. Accordingly, he accepted the writ petitions and directed the Public Service Commission to process the applications of the respondents after giving them the benefit of the new clause.
7. Mr. Khalil Ramday, Assistant Advocate-General, who appeared in support of these appeals advanced the same reasoning as was contained in the letter of the Provincial Government, dated 26-10-1982, reproduced above. He argued that the new clause was introduced in the Punjab Civil Servants Recruitment (Relaxation of Upper Age Limit) Rules by Governor in exercise of his powers under section 23 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act. The word "Government" as pre-fixed to the word "Servant" in the said clause was used in the same sense as had been defined in the said Act. In the Act the "Government" meant the "Government of Punjab"; that being so, the Government servants in the said clause meant the servants of the Government of the Punjab alone. He further argued that if the expression "Government Servant" was taken in generic sense it would include within its ambits not only the employees of the Federal Government but also of the other Provincial Governments in Pakistan. That would unnecessary enlarge the scope of the said expression and it was never the intention of the rule-making authority to give such a wide scope to the new clause.
8. On the other hand, it was contended on behalf of the respondents that the expression "Government Servant" had come to receive a definite sense in Pakistan. If the intention of the rule- making authority was to confine the benefit of the new clause to the employees of the Provincial Government only the clause would have expressly so stated, further, since the expression "Government Servant" had its own definite meanings it was not right to refer to the Punjab Civil Servants Act to find out what was meant by the word "Government". It was also argued that the new clause was of a beneficial nature and its scope should not be restricted without strong reasons to the contrary.
9. As already noted the new clause is a statutory rule made by the Governor in exercise of his rule- making power under section 23(1) of the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974. Consequently, the provisions of the Punjab General Clauses Act will apply to its. Interpretation. Section 19 of the Punjab General Clauses Act states:- "Where, by any Punjab Act, a power to issue any........................................................... Rule, is conferred, then, expression used in rule shall unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context have the same respective meanings as in the Act conferring the power."
The word "shall" and "have" used in this section indicate the compulsive force of the rule of construction contained therein; consequently, unless there is anything repugnant in the new clause or the setting in which it occurs, we shall have to look up to the Punjab Civil Servants Act for discovering the meanings of the expression "Government Servant" as employed in the new clause.
Now, as already pointed out by the learned Assistant Advocate-General, the word "Government" has been defined in the Punjab Civil Servants Act as meaning "the Government of the Punjab". That being so, reading the expression "Government servant" in the light of the definition of the "Government" as given in the Act it would prima facie appear that the said expression has been used in the new clause to refer to the employees of the Government of the Punjab alone.
10. The next question for consideration is whether there is anything repugnant in the subject-matter of the clause or the context in which it occurs which would militate against this interpretation. On behalf of the respondents it was contended that as the expression "Government Servant" had come to receive its own meaning it was not proper to separate the word "Government" from the word "servant" and then refer to the Punjab Civil Servants Act to find out what was intended by the word "Government". There is little merit in this argument. We have a federal system of Government in Pakistan. Apart from the Federal Government we have four Provincial Governments. The employees of all these Governments go by the general name of Government servant. Whenever any of these Governments uses the expression "Government servant" in making rules, a different intention is clearly expressed, it uses it in the sense of its own employees only. By way of example the very notification by which the Punjab Public Service Commission invited applications for the competitive examination can be referred to. Here a certain benefit with regard to age limit was proposed to be conferred on the Federal Government employees domiciled in the Punjab as well.
To give effect to the intention, clause 7 (iii) (c) of the Conditions of Eligibility was therefore, worded as follows:- "In the case of Government servants, who are serving in connection with the affairs of the Centre and are domiciled in the Punjab or the Government Servants who have served in connection with the affairs of the West Pakistan/Punjab for a period of not less than four years on 1st January, 1981 as such, the upper age limit shall be 35 years."
' Thus the condition expressly mentions the Government servants of the Federation also. During the course of hearing of these appeals we called upon the respondents to show us if there was any rule made by the Provisional Government in which the expression "Government servant" had been used to include the employees of the Governments in the Federation also without a specific mention to that effect. They were unable to do so. It is therefore difficult to accept the contention that since the expression "Government servant" has a definite connotation of its own it should be taken in the statutory rules framed by the Provincial Government to include employees of the other Governments as well.
11. It was then contended on behalf of the respondents that two expressions namely "Civil servant" and "Government servant" were available to the rule-making authority. The expression "Civil servant" had been defined in the Punjab Civil Servants Act so as to refer only to the employees of the Provincial Government. The fact that the rule-making authority purposely chose to use the expression "Government servant" in preference to the expression "Civil servant" in the new clause was a clear manifestation of its intention that it did not desire to keep the benefit of its provisions rerstricted to its employees only. This contention too is without any merit. It is to be noticed that the expression "Civil servant" as defined in the Punjab Civil Servants Act does not include all employees of the Provincial Government as it excludes from its ambit persons employed on contract or paid out of contingency or those who are 'workers' or 'workerman' within the meaning of the Factories Act or the Workmen's Compensation Act. Had the expression "Civil servant" been used in the new clause the persons so excluded would not have been able to take advantage of a benefit which the Provincial Government intended to confer upon all its employees. There was thus a definite advantage in drafting the new clause in the manner as it at present stands worded and, we are unable to accept the contention that by using the expression "Government servant" instead of the expression "Civil servant" the sole intention of the rule-making authority was to extend the benefit to employees of the Governments also in the Federal set-up.
12. It was also argued on behalf of the respondents that if the expression "Government servant" as occurring in the new clause was interpreted to refer to the employees of the Provincial Government alone it would result in an unfair discrimination against the employees of the Federal Government domiciled in the Province of the Punjab and for the reason such an interpretation should be rejected. This argument is also without any substance. It is not unknown for the different Governments in our Federation to confer benefits upon their employees which are not available to the employees of the other Governments. In this regard rates of compensatory allowances of various kinds can be cited as an example. The enjoyment of benefits by the employees of a particular Government which are not available to the employees of the other Governments has never been treated as a case of discrimination. If therefore the Government of the Punjab has relaxed the upper age limit for its own employees it cannot be accused of meting out discrimi-.
Natory treatment to the employees of the other Governments.
13. For the reasons stated above we are unable to agree with the learned Single Judge that the benefit of the new clause is available to the employees of the Federal Government as well.
Accordingly, we would accept these appeals, withdraw the writs issued by the learned Single Judge and dismiss the writ petitions. There will be no order as to costs in these appeals.