ABDUL HAMID CHAUDHRY (MEMBER).--Mr. M. Sami Ullah Qureshi, Divisional Accountant, has made this appeal under section 4 of the Punjab Service Tribunals Act, 1974, wherein he has impleaded the Director Agricultural Engineering, Faisalabad, the Director-General, Agriculture (Field), Punjab, Lahore and the Secretary to Government of the Punjab, Agriculture Department, Lahore as respondents.
2. By virtue of this appeal the appellant has prayed that the impugned order dated 24-7-1984/30- 7-1984 be set aside and the respondents be directed to integrate the appellant's seniority with the Superintendents of Agriculture Department w,e,f, 1-7-1970. He has also prayed that the respondents be directed to consider the appellant for promotion as Senior Superintendent, Administrative Officer/Assistant Accounts Officer w,e,f, 15-8-1973 and 18-4-1974 respectively. Alternatively it has also been prayed that the appellant be considered for promotion to the post of Administrative Officer w,e,f, 3-1-1982.
3. Brief facts of the case are that on the dissolution of the Thal Development Authority in the year 1970, the Governor of West Pakistan issued a notification dated 29-6-1970 whereby it was ordered that the entire Agricultural Machinery and Organisation, etc. shall alongwith all the assets and liabilities be placed at the disposal and control of the Provincial Agriculture Department w,e,f, 1-7- 1970 on the conditions given therein. Another notification dated 25/28-9-1971 was issued in which three additional conditions were also provided. These conditions mentioned that Agricultural Machinery Organisation of defunct Thal Development Authority shall stand absorbed in the Agricultural Engineering Wing of the Agriculture Department with effect from 1-7-1970 and the members of the staff will be treated as new entrants into Government service with effect from 1-7- 1970 and their seniority in the Agricultural Engineering Wing will be determined from that date. In view of these notifications the appellant was absorbed in the Agriculture Department from 1-7-1970 as Divisional Accountant and was absorbed in the Ministerial Cadre of the Mechanical Wing (Lyallpur Region) of the Agriclture Department. Accordingly a seniority list of the Ministerial Cadre as it stood on 31-12-1974 was issued vide letter dated 7-6-1975. In the seniority list, Superintendents were shown in Part I and the Divisional Accountants including the appellant were shown in Part II.
Thereafter Junior Superintendents were shown in Part III and Assistants were shown in Part IV. This seniority list makes it clear that the appellant was made part and parcel of the Ministerial Cadre of the Agriculture Department (Engineering Wing). Although the appellant was absorbed in the Ministerial Cadre of the Apiculture Department, yet three posts of Divisional Accountants were shown separately in the seniority list. At that time the Divisional Accountants were in NPS-12 and whereas the Junior Superintendents who were shown in Para. III below them were in NPS-11.
However, when the turn of the appellant for promotion to the post of Senior Superintendent in NPS- 15 came, the respondents took a view that although the post of Divisional Accountant carries higher pay scale of NPS-12 than the Junior Superintendents who were in NPS-11, yet, the appellant was ignored for promotion as Senior Superintendent and later on even as Administrative Officer on the plea that existing service rules did not provide for promotion from the post of Divisional Accountant to these posts. This anomaly was discussed by the Departmental Promotion Committee held on 28-2-1978 of the Punjab Agriculture Department, wherein this deficiency was observed and it was decided that the defect in the service rules be removed and the rules be got suitably amended so as to include the Divisional Accountants eligible for Assistant Accounts Officer/Administrative Officer. The Director-General, Agriculture (Field), Punjab, Lahore vide his letter dated 29-5-1978 referred the matter to the Secretary, Government of the Punjab, Agriculture Department whereby including the draft amendment to be made in the West Pakistan Agriculture Department, Administrative Officers and Assistant Accounts Officers Recruitment Rules, 1963, so as to make the Divisional Accountant eligible for promotion for the post of Assistant Accounts Officer/Administrative Officer. There has been correspondence on this issue between the Office of the Director-General, Agriculture (Field) and the Secretary, Government of the Punjab, Agriculture Department, Lahore but the amendment in rules as desired by the Departmental Promotion Committee in the year 1978, has not been made so far. The appellant kept on making representations for his promotion to higher posts mentioned above but finally in the year 1984, his representation has been rejected by order dated 24-7-1984 of the Agriculture Department, Government of the Punjab, Lahore. Hence this appeal.
4. We have heard the parties i,e,, Mr. Masud Ahmad Riaz, Advocate for the appellant and Mr. Haroon-ur-Rashid Cheema, District Attorney assisted by the representative of the respondents on behalf of the respondents.
5. It has been argued by the learned counsel for the appellant that the appellant was absorbed in the Punjab Agriculture Department on 1-7-1970 as Divisional Accountant on the dissolution of the Thal Development Authority. On his absorption in the Punjab Agriculture Department a seniority list was issued and he was shown above the Junior Superintendents in the seniority list of the Ministerial Staff of the Mechanical Wing of Agriculture issued by the Director Agriculture Engineering, Lyallpur in the year 1975 (Annexure 'C'). At that time the appellant was shown in NPS-12 whereas Junior Superintendents were in NPS-11. According to the instructions of the Government regarding the absorption of Thal Development Authority employees in the Agriculture Department, it was obligatory upon the respondents to integrate the appellant's seniority with the Junior Superintendents (NPS-11) showing the appellant as senior to them. He has referred to the Notification dated 29-6-1970 wherein 8 posts of Accounts Clerks alongwith 8 incumbents were also transferred from T.D.A. to the Agriculture Department and they were merged and integrated with Senior Storekeepers/Junior Auditors, Senior Clerks and Storekeepers. He has also referred to the case of two other officers M/s. Abdul Ghani and Gul Muhammad Malik who were transferred from Thal Development Authority to the Agriculture Department. They were enjoying higher pay scales than the pay. scales of Class II Officers of the Engineering Wing of the Agriculture Department at the time of their absorption w,e,f, 1-7-1970. They were so integrated with the officers of the Agriculture Department that they were placed senior to all the Class II Officers. This also shows and proves that the staff transferred from T.D.A. was not kept and maintained as an Ex-Cadre entity but in all the cases they were allowed seniority with the concerned staff of the Agriculture Department.
It was only in the case of the appellant that due to some confusion, he was denied right of seniority amongst the staff concerned. When the turn of the appellant for promotion to the post of Senior Superintendent came the respondent No, 1 took a view that although the post of Divisional Accountant carries higher pay scale i,e,, NPS-12 than the Junior Superintendent (NPS-11), yet the existing Service Rules did not provide promotion from the post of Divisional Accountant to the post of Senior Superintendent and he was ignored. Similarly he was not considered for promotion for the post of Administrative Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer with the result that the further promotions of the Divisional Accountants were blocked. This was done without any justification by overlooking the provisions of General Service Rules regulating terms and conditions of the Ministerial Staff. It has also been pointed out by the appellant's counsel that if the Department had failed to amend the service rules by giving effect to the Governor's instructions regarding absorption of T.D.A. employees, then it was not the fault of the appellant that he should have been made to suffer for inaction on the part of the respondents. He has relied upon the judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan reported as 1984 SCMR 642, in a similar case of the Punjab Agriculture Department. He has submitted that keeping the above facts in view the appellant be promoted as Senior Superintendent w,e,f, 25-5-1974 and Administrative Officer w,e,f, 4-4-1978, the dates from which S. Nawazish Ali, Junior Superintendent, junior to him as shown in the Part III of the impugned seniority list, was so promoted ignoring the rights of the appellant.
6. On the other hand the learned District Attorney assisted by the representative of the respondents has relied upon the parawise comments submitted by the respondents and has submitted that the case of the appellant was referred to the Finance Department for re-designation of Divisional Accountant (NPS-12) as Superintendent in NPS-15, therefore, the case remained pending for final decision. The Finance Department did not agree to the proposal of the Agriculture Department, therefore the appellant could not be redesignated as Superintendent. As there was no provision under the Service Rules for promotion of the Divisional Accountant to the post of Administrative Officer/ Assistant Accounts Officer, hence, he could not be promoted for the same. The appellant has no right to claim the seniority amongst the Junior Superintendents and to claim resultantly benefits of the post of Senior Superintendent and Administrative Officer/Assistant Accounts Officer.
Thus, the impugned order is a lawful order and no exception can be taken against the same.
7. We have given our anxious thought to the arguments of the parties and have also perused the Provisional Seniority list of Ministerial Staff of Mechanical Wing (Lyallpur Region) of the Department of Agriculture as it stood on 31-12-1974. The seniority list makes it clear that the appellant was shown at serial No, 1 as Divisional Accountant in the scale of Rs,300-20-400/25-525/25-650 in Part II of the seniority list. S. Nawazish Ali, was shown in Part III under head Junior Superintendents in the scale of Rs,275-20-375/20-475/25-600, working as Senior Superintendent on ad hoc basis as well w,e,f, 25-4-1974. No doubt the appellant had been working as Divisional Accountant in the higher scale since his absorption in the Agriculture Department on dissolution of the Thal Development Authority and Mr. Nawazish Ali Shah, Junior Superintendent in the lower scale but Mr. Nawazish Ali Shah was promoted as Senior Superintendent on 25-5-1974 but the appellant was not considered on the plea that the Ministerial Service Rules, 1963, of the Agriculture Department did not provide promotion of Divisional Accountant to the post of Senior Superintendent. Also the service rules did not include the post of Divisional Accountant for promotion to the Administrative Officer/Assistant Accounts Officer. The learned counsel for the appellant has referred to this anomaly in the case of the appellant and has submitted that on absorption of the appellant as Divisional Accountant on 1- 7-1970 in the Agriculture Department from the defunct-T.DA. the appellant should have been merged with the Junior Superintendents as was done in the other cases of all the other employees of the T.D.A. as per Governor's instructions dated 29-6-1970 and 25/28-2-1971 referred to above. In this way the appellant should have gained the seniority over and above the Junior Superintendents. This lacuna and inaction on the part of the respondents had affected the service rights and promotion of the appellant to the posts of Senior Superintendent and Administrative Officer. The respondents have taken a stand that in the first instance the Finance Department did not agree for the upgradation of the post of the Divisional Accountant to that of Senior Superintendent in' NPS-15 and the appellant could not be considered for promotion for the post of Senior Superintendent and Administrative Officer for want of provision of the same in the West Pakistan Ministerial Service Rules, 1963, of the Agriculture Department. Perusal of the record supplied by the respondents makes it clear that in the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee dated 28-2-1978 attended by Dr. Muhammad Naseem, Secretary, Agriculture, Dr. S.A.
Qureshi, D.-G. (Agriculture) (R) and Mr. Sakhawat Ali, Deputy Secretary (Regulation) S & GA Department, it was observed as follows:-- Item No,
4. Filling of 5 vacancies of Grade 16 (one Assistant Accounts Officer and four Administrative Officers) in the Agriculture Engineering Wing.
"The Committee observed that out of five vacancies of Grade-16 proposed to be filled by promotion, the fifth vacancy caused due to posting of Dr. Nazar Muhammad, Administrative Officer as Assistant Director (Planning) in his own pay and grade was not a regular vacancy. Hence the Committee recommended the filling of only 4 vacancies i,e,, one Assistant Accounts Officer and three Administrative Officers. The Committee further observed that there was no provision in the West Pakistan Agriculture Department, Administrative Officers/Accounts Officers Rules, 1963 to consider the Divisional Accountants for promotion. It was decided that the said rules may be got suitably amended so as to include the Divisional Accountants eligible for such promotion. The Committee considered only Senior Superintendent and accordingly recommended M/s. Nawazish Ali, Senior Superintendent, Mian Abdul Ghafoor, Ghulam Muhammad Bhatti and Haji Muhammad Bashir, Superintendents for promotion on regular basis to Grade-16 posts. Their further posting as Administrative Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer was left to the D.-G. Agriculture (Field)."
' The above minutes of the meeting show that the Committee had decided that the rules of the Department be got suitably amended so as to include the appellant eligible for promotion as Assistant Accounts Officer/Administrative Officer. Later on some efforts were made by the respondents to get the amendment made in the service rules but this has ended so far only in correspondence between the Director-General, Agriculture (Field), Punjab, Lahore and the Punjab Agriculture Secretariat. No material progress has been made for amendment inl the service rules and the appellant has suffered accordingly.
8. The above facts of the case make it clear that the appellant was absorbed in the Punjab Agriculture Department on dissolution of the Thal Development Authority from 1-7-1970 as Divisional Accountant. The seniority list referred to above also shows that this post was higher than the Junior Superintendent. The appellant was in NPS-12 and Junior Superintendents were in NPS-11.
We are in agreement with the learned counsel for the appellant that the posts of Divisional Accountants should have been merged with the Junior Superintendents of the Mechanical Wing of the Agriculture Department on absorption of the Divisional Accountants w,e,f, 1-7-1970 in the Agriculture Department in compliance with the Punjab Governor's order dated 29-6-1970 (Annexure 'A') and 25/28-9-1971 (Annexure 'B') as was done in all other similar cases of the defunct Thal Development Authority employees. Later on it was also felt by the Agriculture Department (refer minutes of the Departmental Promotion Committee dated 28-2-1978) referred in para. 7 of this judgment that there was lacuna in the concerned service rules and these should be suitably amended so as to include the Divisional Accountant eligible for promotion as Administrative Officer/Assistant Accounts Officer. But nothing has been done so far and due to inaction on the part of the respondents the service rules have not been amended so far. Resultantly, the appellant has been unnecessarily strangled as Divisional Accountant, the post which he carried with him in the year 1970 when he was absorbed in the Agriculture Department. Due to inaction on the part of the respondents, the appellant has been subjected to the finity of terms an conditions whereas his colleagues including his juniors had been enjoying promotions. This policy amounts to serious discrimination, injustice and inequity similar case had come before us in which the Agriculture Department extended the same treatment to the employees of the former Agriculture Development Corporation and they were also subjected to the finity of the terms and conditions of service and were not given the benefits of upgradation of the posts on their absorption in the Agriculture Department. We accepted their appeals and the decision has been upheld by the Honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan reported as 1984 SCMR 642, with the following observations which are relevant to the present case:-- "It is to be noted at once that the dispute in the service appeals preferred by the respondents was essentially one with regard to the protection of pay scales and its being properly reflected at all the material stages of revision of pay and its fixation in NPS. Their claim to Class-I Junior at time when the classes in services stood abolished by Punjab Civil Servants (Changes in Nomenclature of Service and Abolition of Classes) Rules, 1974, was only to pinpoint the nature of their grievance and the nature of the reliefs that they were seeking. It is not denied that the post of Farm Manager was higher to that of Agricultural Assistant. It is also not disputed that their pay scales were identical with that of Extra Assistant Directors of Agriculture in the Department. In the process of Pay Revision Rules the scale of Rs,350-925 in the Department was given a preferential treatment than the same scale of pay of the respondents and the only distinction made for this purpose was on account of their having been employees of the erstwhile Agriculture Development Corporation. The first pay revision rules were enforced on 2nd of June, 1972 though they had for certain purposes effect from 1st of March, 1972. It was therefore, after the induction of these Farm Managers into the Department that this revision of pay scales took place. The respondents were denied the benefits of Pay Revision Rules of 1972 and also of the beneficial treatment in pay scales extended to their counterparts (Pay Scale-wise) in the Agriculture Department. They were given the benefit of NPS-17 from 1-5-1977 ironically, the date from which their erstwhile subordinates were given NPS-17. This manifestly unjust treatment was set right by the Tribunal by equating them in the matter of pay scale and status with those who were holding the identical pay scales in the Agriculture Department. In granting such a relief the Tribunal has not exceeded its jurisdiction nor any question of law of public importance such as may require further examination in this Court arises."
9. The result of the above detailed analysis of the case is that we accept the appeal and set aside the impugned order. We direct that the appellant be considered for promotion as Senior Superintendent and Administrative Officer from the date from which his junior, S. Nawazish Ali Shah, Junior Superintendent, was so promoted.
There is no order as to costs.