1. This is an appeal filed by the appellant, a clerk in the Office of the District Food Controller `D', Lahore, seeks a direction to the respondent No. 2 to promote him as senior clerk with effect from 1-6-1969.
2. Earlier the appellant had filed a civil suit against the respondents claiming the similar relief, which was declared to have abated by the trial Court on 15th October 1974 after which this appeal has been filed b9fore us on the 6th of January 1975.
3. In the report called for by us the Department has raised preliminary objection that the appeal is barred by time and also the appeal is not maintainable in view of the fact that the appellant claims promotion for which the relief cannot be granted to him in view of the express bar contained in proviso (b) to section 4 of the Punjab Service Tribunals Act.
4. Malik Sher Bahadur, the learned counsel for the appellant, however, agrued that initially the position as to the filing of the appeals before this Tribunal was not clear and it was only after 15th October, 1974 Le. After the suit that the appellant came to know that an appeal was to be filed before this Tribunal. Thereafter the appellant has been busy in collecting various documents for filing appeal before this Tribunal. We have perused the documents accompanying the appeal, but none of those is a certified copy and it is not possible to hold that the appellant bad to spend time in getting copies from any public agency. When otherwise it has not been shown to us that it was essential requirement under provision of the procedural rules that these documents must have accompanied at the time of filing of the appeal in the absence of which it was rather difficult to hold that the time spent by the appellant from October 1974 to 6th January 1975 was reasonable of the appellants could not move this Tribunal without these documents. In fact the Supreme Court of Pakistan has authoritatively laid down in their decision reported as PLD 1976 SC 195 that the proceedings in suit pending before civil Court abated on the establishment of the Tribunal and no formal order was necessary. This Tribunal was established on 22nd July 1974 and the limitation commenced from the aforesaid date. Thus the appellant was required to explain the delay for each and every day incurred after expiry of 90 days after 22 1 1976. We do not find that the appellant had been able to advance any reasonable or acceptable explanation for the delay. We accordingly hold that the appeal is barred by time and reject the same on the same grounds. Even on the second point we do not find that the appeal is maintain--able inasmuch as the appellant has been superseded for promotion and the relief to promotion cannot be granted by this Tribunal in view of the clean bar contained in proviso (b) to section 4 of the Punjab Service Tribunals B Act, 1974. It has nowhere been alleged by the appellant that there had been no determination as to his fitness or otherwise, appellant conceded before u that he had been considered but wrongly ignored. We cannot go into merits of such determination by the Department in the case of promotion.
5. Consequently, we reject the appeal on both the grounds in limine.