Shriniwas Gurunath Gangthade vs The Zilla Parishad Through Its ...
2016 Latest Caselaw 3201 Bom

                                                             8420.2015WP.odt
                                           1




                                                                       
                   IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY 
                              BENCH AT AURANGABAD




                                               
                             WRIT PETITION NO.8420 OF 2015 

              Shri Shriniwas Gurunath Gangthade,
              Age: 49 Years, Occup. : Service as 




                                              
              Assistant Engineer, Class-II, Zilla 
              Parishad, Latur, R/o.Near Zulelal Temple
              Narayan Nagar, Latur,  
              District Latur                    PETITIONER 




                                      
                         VERSUS 
                             
              1]       The Zilla Parishad, Latur,  
                       Through its Chief Executive Officer,  
                            
              2]       The Divisional Commissioner,  
                       Aurangabad.  

              3]       Principal Secretary,  
      


                       Rural Development Department,  
                       Maharashtra State,  
   



                       Mantralaya, Mumbai-32.       

                       [Copies of respondents No.2 and 3 
                       to be served through Government 





                       Pleader, High Court, Bench at 
                       Aurangabad]                   RESPONDENTS

                                   ...
              Mr.V.D.Sapkal, Advocate for the Petitioner 





              Mr.S.R.Tandale, Advocate for Respondent No.1 
              Mr.S.K.Kadam, AGP for Respondent Nos.2 & 3. 
                                   ...

                              CORAM:  S.S.SHINDE & 
                                      SANGITRAO S.PATIL,JJ. 

Reserved on : 20.06.2016 Pronounced on : 24.06.2016

8420.2015WP.odt

JUDGMENT: [Per S.S.Shinde, J.]:

This Petition is filed with the

following prayers:

B] To hold and declare that list published by the Government as per Government Resolution dated

04-02-2014 [Exhibit O] to the extent

of entry No. 210 in Part No. I of seniority list showing date of

petitioner's regular appointment as 08-03-1999 is illegal by issuing appropriate writ, order or direction

in the nature of writ or as the case may be.

C] To direct respondent No.1 to correct regular appointment date of the

petitioner as 04-04-1992, as mentioned in service book by issuing appropriate writ, order or direction

in the nature of writ or as the case may be.

D] To direct respondent No.1 to correct seniority list to the extent of petitioner showing the date of his regular appointment as 04-04-1992 by

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issuing appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of writ or

as the case may be.

2] It is the case of the petitioner

that he was appointed as Junior Engineer in

Sub-Division Udgir of Zilla Parishad, Latur,

under the Employment Guarantee Scheme on

08.12.1986. The services of the petitioner

under the Employment Guarantee Scheme were

terminated and he was appointed on 30.01.1990

as Junior Engineer under the Jawahar

Employment Scheme. The petitioner approached

this Court by filing Writ Petition No.369 of

1991 seeking relief of permanent absorption

in the services of Zilla Parishad. On

14.08.2001, the said Writ Petition came to be

disposed of. Accordingly, as per the

directions of this Court, the petitioner has

been permanently absorbed in the permanent

employment of Zilla Parishad to the post of

Junior Engineer w.e.f. 30.01.1990.

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3] It is further the case of the

petitioner that the Government of Maharashtra

had issued a Resolution dated 29.11.1984,

wherein it is mentioned that in case the

Junior Engineers, who possess Diploma in

Engineering, pass Examination of Association

Membership of Institution of Engineering

[hereinafter referred to as 'AMIE'], they

would be considered as Assistant Engineers,

Class-II and their earlier services to the

extent of 3/8th would be considered for the

purpose of fixation of seniority and deemed

date. The petitioner passed examination of

AMIE on 13.06.1995. Considering the date of

passing examination of AMIE, the Additional

Commissioner passed an order on 19.03.1999

designating the petitioner as Assistant

Engineer, Class-II, w.e.f. 13.06.1995. As per

the Government Circular dated 02.06.1990 and

considering the date of passing of

examination of AMIE and taking into

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consideration the 3/8th services as Junior

Engineer, the entry in the service record of

the petitioner has been taken by the Zilla

Parishad and the petitioner has been given

deemed date as 04.04.1992.

4] It is further the case of the

petitioner that the petitioner has completed

more than 12 years service on the post of

Assistant Engineer, Class-II, therefore, he

was given time bound promotion in the higher

pay scale of Rs.8000/- to Rs.13,500/-. The

date of appointment of the petitioner is

shown as 08.03.1999 in the seniority list

published by the Government. According to the

petitioner, the Government has not considered

the recommendations made by the authorities

of Zilla Parishad. It was specifically

recommended by the Zilla Parishad to the

State Government that the date i.e.

08.03.1999, has to be corrected as

04.04.1992. It was also communicated to the

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State Government that the petitioner has

passed examination of AMIE on 13.06.1995 and

considering his earlier service to the extent

of 3/8th, his date of appointment is

04.04.1992.

5] It is further the case of the

petitioner that the petitioner made various

applications to the authorities for

correction of his deemed date of appointment

as 04.04.1992 in the seniority list. Even the

Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad

also made several communications to the

Government for correction, but all in vain.

The Government has not considered the case of

the petitioner since beginning and mechanical

exercise was made by the Government by

showing the name of the petitioner at serial

No.210 in Part-I of the list of Graduate

Junior Engineers. On 04.02.2014, the

Government issued Resolution and published a

final seniority list. The name of the

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petitioner is shown at serial No.210 in the

list of Graduate Junior Engineers.

6] It is further the case of the

petitioner that the Government has not

considered the recommendations made by the

Zilla Parishad. The Government has not taken

into consideration the 3/8th service for

calculation of seniority after obtaining

degree, as observed by the High Court while

disposing of the Writ Petition No.2842/2010.

The decision in Writ Petition No.2842/2010

was challenged by the Government before the

Hon'ble Supreme Court. The judgment in Writ

Petition No.2842/2010 is upheld by the

Hon'ble Supreme Court.

7] In the present case, the benefits to

the petitioner by calculating 3/8th service

has already been given by the Zilla Parishad

and the necessary entries have been made in

the service book. However, in the seniority

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list, which is prepared by the Government of

Maharashtra, this fact is not taken into

consideration by it. Hence this Writ

Petition.

8] The learned counsel appearing for

the petitioner submits that the Government

has not considered the recommendations made

by the Zilla Parishad. He submits that the

petitioner's date of appointment is shown as

08.03.1999 in the seniority list, published

by the Government. In fact, the Zilla

Parishad, in its recommendation, specifically

recommended that the date of appointment i.e.

08.03.1999 shown in the seniority list needs

to be corrected as 04.04.1992. Therefore, he

submits that the Petition deserves to be

allowed.

9] The learned counsel appearing for

respondent no.1 filed affidavit-in-reply and

stated in para 3 that the petitioner had

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joined services as Junior Engineer on

12.12.1986. While the petitioner was in

service, he had obtained degree of AMIE

[Civil] Section 'A' and 'B' on 13.06.1995.

Considering the Government Resolutions dated

29.11.1987 and 02.06.1990, the date of

appointment of the petitioner for the purpose

of seniority is required to be considered as

04.04.1992. According to these Government

Resolutions, the 3/8th service of the

petitioner has been taken into consideration

for the purpose of his date of seniority.

10] It is further stated in para 4 of

the reply that the petitioner filed Writ

Petition No.369/1991 before the High Court,

which was decided on 14.08.2001 and the

liberty was granted to the petitioner to

approach the State Government / Competent

Authority to agitate the issue regarding

seniority and consequential benefits from the

initial date of appointment. It is further

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stated in para 5 that the appointment of the

petitioner is a regular appointment.

Respondent no.1 has written a letter dated

30.07.2014, thereby requesting to grant

proposal in respect of deemed date of

seniority of the petitioner.

11]

The learned AGP appearing for the

respondent - State fairly states that the

respondent - State has published the

seniority list by issuing Government

Resolution dated 04.02.2014, wherein the

petitioner is shown at serial no. 210 and in

the said seniority list, his date of

appointment is shown as 08.03.1999, without

keeping in view the recommendations made by

respondent no.1. Therefore, he submits that

this Court may pass appropriate orders.

12] We have heard the learned counsel

appearing for the petitioner, the learned

counsel appearing for respondent no.1 and the

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learned AGP appearing for respondent nos.2

and 3. With their able assistance, we

perused the pleadings in the Petition,

annexures thereto, and the order passed by

the Division Bench of this High Court in Writ

Petition No.2842/2010 [Ashok Keshavrao Munde

Vs. The State of Maharashtra and ors.],

decided on 12.06.2012. Admittedly, the

respondent - State Government issued a

Resolution dated 04.02.2014 showing the

petitioner's name at serial no.210. His date

of regular appointment is mentioned as

08.03.1999. It appears that the respondent -

State has not considered the recommendations

made by the Zilla Parishad, wherein according

to the petitioner, the date of regular

appointment of the petitioner is shown as

04.04.1992.

13] In that view of the matter, without

entering into more details of the case,

suffice it to say that admittedly, the

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Government has not considered the

recommendations of the Zilla Parishad,

wherein the correct date of regular

appointment of the petitioner is shown and as

a result, the name of the petitioner is shown

at serial no. 210 in Part-I of the seniority

list published by issuing the Government

Resolution dated 04.02.2014.

14] In that view of the matter, the

Petition is allowed in terms of prayer

clause-B. Respondent no.3 is directed to

reconsider the issue of seniority of the

petitioner keeping in view the

recommendations made by the Zilla Parishad

and take decision as expeditiously as

possible, however, within three months from

today and communicate the said decision to

the petitioner and also to the Zilla

Parishad, Latur.

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15] The Writ Petition is partly allowed

to the above extent and the same stands

disposed of accordingly.

                       Sd/-                       Sd/-
               [SANGITRAO S.PATIL]          [S.S.SHINDE]
                     JUDGE                     JUDGE  
              DDC