' On 13-11-1998, Writ Petition No,23420 having been filed by the petitioners was dismissed by the High Court with the following order:-- "The petitioners through this Constitutional petition have challenged administrative decision taken by the Chief Minister, Punjab contained in order, dated 28th of October, 1998.
' The petitioners will have opportunity to raise these objections in the appropriate forum. At this stage the learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners have already received notice from the Section Officer (Revenue), Government of the Punjab, Revenue Department calling upon the petitioners for personal hearing. This gives an opportunity to the petitioners to raise all objections legal and factual on personal hearing.
' The petition is dismissed as incompetent."
' This is a petition for leave to appeal against the abovesaid order.
2. Learned counsel submitted before us that the petitioners were appointed as Tehsildars on permanent basis in 1979 after completion of all the legal formalities. The petitioners were also given seniority including the period of their training by the competent Authority on various dates in the year 1996. However, vide Notification No,3683-98/2572-E(F)I, dated 26-12-1998, a fresh was direction and issued by the respondents withdrawing the seniority already fixed. It is submitted by the learned counsel that the seniority already fixed in the case of the petitioners could not be withdrawn arbitrarily and without having proper recourse to law. The case of the petitioners is that they are the permanent incumbents of the Revenue Department and, as such, the training period cannot be excluded while fixing their seniority as required by law. It is added that the petitioners have been promoted to Grade-18 in lieu of seniority fixed by the competent forum. They, therefore, cannot be demoted in the way, it has been done. Learned counsel states that the Chief Executive of the Province of Punjab has no lawful authority to fix the seniority of the petitioners and, as such, cannot exclude the jurisdiction of the competent forum.
3. Inter alia, the points raised by the learned counsel need consideration. Leave to appeal is, therefore, granted. The operation of the impugned order of the High Court dated 13-11-1998 and the notification dated 26-12-1988 and all subsequent actions are suspended because the balance of convenience lies heavily on the side of the petitioners. In other words, the seniority already fixed shall not be disturbed by the respondents in any way whatsoever till the final hearing of this appeal..