' ALLAH BAKHSH KHAN (MEMBER).-The appellant Buner Khan was an employee of the defunct State of Swat prior to its merger in the Province of West Pakistan and was working as Inspector of Schools. The State was merged in the Province of West Pakistan by the Dir, Chitral and Swat (Administration) Regulation, 1969 (hereinafter called the Regulation) and it came into force on 15th August, 1969. The Province of West Pakistan was dissolved by the West Pakistan (Dissolution) Order, 1970 and the territory of the former State of Swat became part of the North-West Frontier Province.
Clause (4) of the Regulation envisaged that all persons who, immediately before the commencement of the Regulation, held any civil post or office in the State shall be deemed to be persons serving under the Government of West Pakistan. Their terms and conditions, however.
Were to be determined by the Provincial Government. In pursuance of the provisions contained in clause (4) read with clause (3) of the Regulation, the Scheme for the absorption of the employees of the former States of Dir. Chitral and Swat in the Provincial Government cadres/services was prepared vide Notification No, PS/CS-NWFP-71/l-17 dated 1-1-1971 whereby the employees of the said States were to be absorbed in the Provincial Service with effect from 1-7-1970. According to the Schedule attached to the Scheme (hereinafter called the Schedule) the .District Inspectors of Schools, Deputy Inspectors of Schools, Headmasters/Headmistresses of High/Middle Schools of the former States wete equated with District Inspectors of Schools, Deputy Inspectors of Schools, Headmasters/Headmistresses of High Schools of the Provincial Government. The appellant was absorbed as Headmaster of a High School and was subsequently appointed as Deputy Inspector of Schools, Malakand Divison. He represented to the Government that he should have been absorbed as Inspector of Schools in the Provincial Education Department but could not succeed.
He has now come on appeal to this Tribunal.
2. The learned counsel for the appellant contended that the appellant was holding the post of Inspector of Schools in the State prior to the merger and in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation and the Scheme he was to be absorbed as Divisional Inspector and not as Deputy Inspector of Schools, Malakand Division. He added that the status and pay scale of Inspector of Schools in the State were higher than those of the Headmasters and District Inspectors of Schools.
According to him, the post of Inspector of Schools found no mention in the Schedule nor equivalent post had been shown therein and, as such, supernumerary post should have been created to accommodate the appellant in compliance with the directive issued by the Chief Secretary vide Annexure 'B', dated 18-3-1971. The learned Government Pleader, on the other hand, maintained that the appellant had been rightly absorbed as Deputy Inspector of Schools in conformity with the provisions of the Regulation and the Scheme and no question of creation of supernumerary post would arise.
3.
3. It is an admitted fact that the appellant was Inspector of Schools in the former State of Swat in the pay-scale of Rs, 300-25-600/30-900. The Pay Scale of the Director of Education in the State was Rs, 640 -40 -800/50 1,200 and the post was held by Syed Yousaf Ali Shah before the merger of the State. The latter was absorbed on his own pay and grade as Inspector of Schools, Malakand Division whereas the appellant was at a later stage absorbed on his own pay and grade mentioned above as Deputy Inspector of Schools, Malakand Division. Syed Yousaf Ali Shah was absorbed as Inspector of Schools, Malakand Division in revised pay scale of Rs, 750 -75-1,500 (Selection Grade) with effect from 1-7-1970 in P. E. S. Class-II vide Notification No, Estt: 1-68. 70(E) dated 31st May, 1971. In partial modification of this Notification the Government allowed vide Notification No-SO (Schools) 12-35/75 dated 3-3-1976 the absorption of Syed Yousaf Ali Shah in PES-I (Senior) Scale of Rs, 750-75-1,500 with effect from 1-7-1970. According to the Schedule the posts of District Inspector of Schools, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Headmasters/Headmistresses of High Middle Schools in the pay scale of Rs, 300-25- 600/30 -900 were quated with the posts of District Inspectors of Schools, Headmasters/Headmistresses of High Schools in the pay scale of Rs, 450-50-1,000. It is abundantly clear that the pay scale given to the appellant, namely, Rs, 450-50 - 1,000 was higher than the pay scale enjoyed by him in the State, namely Rs, 300-25-600/. 30-90'.
The erstwhile Director of Education Syed Yousaf Ali Shah has been absorbed in the Senior Class I in the above-mentioned scale of pay and the appellant who was subordinate to him and was holding a junior post than him has no justification to be equated with him in the matter of grade and status. Nothing has been brought on the record to indicate that the Inspector of Schools in the Swat State enjoyed the Status and grade higher than that of the District Inspector of Schools in the Provincial service structure. The post of Director of Education has been shown in the Schedule at Serial No, 1 whereas the posts of District Inspector of Schools, Deputy Inspector of Schools, Headmasters/Headmistresses of High/Middle Schools have been shown at Serial No,
2. The post of Inspector of Schools was not equivalent to the post at Serial No, 1 nor it stands in between Serial Nos. 1 and 2. It can, in the circumstances, be presumed that it would fall within the ambit of Serial No, 2 because it had the same scale of pay which was prescribed for the posts mentioned therein.
4. No mention has been made of the post of Inspector of Schools in the Schedule and the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant that the supernumerary post should have been created is not tenable. Reliance for this view of the matter has been exclusively placed on para. 3 of Annexure B, dated 18-3-1971 and it reads as under
(iii) Supernumerary post will have to be created both for the non-optee mentioned in sub-para. (i) above and for optees who are surplus to the requirements of the departments concerned (sub- para. (ii) (b) above).
' It is clear from what has been reproduced above that supernumerary post had to be created for the non-optees and the optees who were surplus to the requirements of the Department concerned. The appellant has opted for the new pay scales and the new terms and conditions of service and is neither a non-optee nor a surplus and, as such, the provisions of this para. Are not attracted to his case.
2. During the pendency of the appeal the appellant produced before us an order whereby he has been posted as Headmaster of a High School and claimed that he has been reduced in status, a fact which, according to him, goes to contradict the plea of the respondent: in their written replies.
It escape his notice that according to the Schedule the post of District Inspector, Depute Inspector, Headmaster/Headmistress of High Schools are equivalent inter se. The District Inspector can be posted as Headmaster and vice versa. It cannot, therefore, be said that the posting of a District Inspector or Deputy' Inspector of Schools as Headmaster of High School tantamounts to reduction in his status.
6. As a result of the foregoing discussion we find no substance in the appeal and dismiss it accordingly with no orders as to costs.