Punjab-Haryana High Court
Rakesh Kumar vs State Of Haryana And Others on 7 September, 2022
201-2
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
Date of decision: September 07, 2022
1. CWP-9949-2021 (O&M)
Rakesh Kumar
.....Petitioner(s)
versus
State of Haryana and others
......Respondents
2. CWP-1493-2022 (O&M)
Deepak Kumar and others
.....Petitioner(s)
versus
State of Haryana and others
......Respondents
3. CWP-2113-2022 (O&M)
Sohan Singh and others
.....Petitioner(s)
versus
State of Haryana and others
......Respondents
4. CWP-8657-2022 (O&M)
Mohan Lal
.....Petitioner(s)
versus
State of Haryana and others
......Respondents
5. CWP-95-2021 (O&M)
Chetan Gahlot
.....Petitioner(s)
versus
State of Haryana and others
......Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MONGA
Present: Mr. Jasbir Mor, Advocate,
Mr. Govind Mor, Advocate for the petitioner(s)
CWP-9949-2021, CWP-2113-2022, CWP-95-2021.
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Mr. Vikram Sheoran, Advocate for the petitioner(s)
in CWP-1493-2022.
Mr. Shakti Mehta, Advocate for the petitioner(s)
in CWP-8657-2022.
Mr. Pankaj Middha, Additional AG Haryana.
Mr. Namit Khurana, Advocate
for respondent No.6 in CWP-95-2021,
for respondent No.8 in CWP-2113-2022.
*****
ARUN MONGA, J. (ORAL)
Vide this common order, bunch of above-mentioned writ petitions
are being disposed of, since not only the facts but the law points and the issues
raised therein are also similar. For brevity, recitals are taken from CWP
No.9949-2021.
2. Petition herein, inter alia, is for issuance of a writ in the nature of
Certiorari for quashing the impugned order dated 31.12.2020 (Annexure P- P-
13)passed by respondent No.3-Deputy Director, Agriculture and Farmers
Welfare, Sirsa terminating the services of the petitioner for not submitting the
Sports Gradation Certificate upto 31.12.2020 under the Sports Policy dated
25.05.2018 in terms of Govt. instructions dated 10.11.2020 (Annexure P-9)
allegedly being illegal, arbitrary, void, discriminatory and violative of Articles
14 & 16 of the Constitution of India.
3. Interim order dated 19.05.2021 was passed by this Court directing
that qua the petitioner, the impugned termination order shall remain stayed.
Controversy involved in this bunch of petitions is no more res integra as the
same has already been dealt with by me on an earlier occasion. I need not labour
all over again. Reference, in this regard, may be had to my judgment/ order
dated 13.05.2022 rendered in CWP-21776-2020 titled Ashish Kumar and
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others versus State of Haryana and others. Relevant portion of the same is
extracted herein below:
"6. Be that as it may, in this backdrop, Haryana Athletic
Association also instituted an independent writ petition bearing
CWP No. 4259 of 2022 before this Court. The same was disposed of
by my learned brother Raj Mohan Singh, J., commanding the
Director of Sports, State of Haryana to accord an opportunity of
hearing to Haryana Athletic Association and all other stakeholders
and after inviting objections etc. to take necessary decision qua the
recognition/de-recognition of the Haryana Athletic Association.
For ready reference, the operative part of the order ibid, is
reproduced herein below:
"Having considered the issue on the basis of
submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, I deem
it appropriate to dispose of this writ petition with a direction
to respondent No.2 to accord full opportunity of hearing to
the petitioner and its members, if they wish to come forward
by way of objections. Respondent No.2 shall also disclose the
reasons for passing the impugned order and after granting
reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and other
stakeholders, necessary decision shall be taken. Respondent
No.2 shall also consider the feasibility of granting more
opportunities to the petitioner and its members in order to
facilitate them to supplement their objections.
In view of aforesaid facts and circumstances of the
case, rigour of order dated 07.01.2022 shall not applied to
the proceedings before respondent No.2."
7. Perusal of the aforesaid reveals that an earlier
administrative order dated 07.01.2022, vide which the Director
Sports had issued instructions to various District Sports Officers to
cancel all the Gradation Certificates issued to various
players/athletes, who had been accorded the benefit of
recommendations given by the Haryana Athletic Association, were
directed to be put on hold by learned Single Bench while remanding
the matter to Director Sports for a fresh decision. It is clearly stated
therein that rigor of order dated 07.01.2022 shall not be applied
until fresh decision is taken.
8. I see no reason as to why the apple cart be turned turtle at
this stage, by not giving benefit of the aforesaid interim order
passed by the learned Single Judge, inasmuch as, in the
interregnum the petitioners fear that based on cancellation of their
Sports Gradation Certificate, their services may be dispensed with.
9. In the premise, the writ petitions are disposed of with a
direction to the respondents that, subject to the outcome of the
decision pursuant to the directions given in CWP No. 4259 of 2022,
the petitioners' services shall not be dispensed with without issuing
them any show cause notice with at least four weeks to respond to
the same and/or seek legal remedy in accordance with law.
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10. It transpires that in CWP-21776 of 2020, there are eight
petitioners and claim of two of them has already been accepted qua
the sports gradation certificate. In the premise, same be processed
in accordance with the instructions dated 10.05.2022 and benefit
thereof be accorded to them in accordance with their achievements.
11. In the parting, to be noted, that in different petitions, interim
orders were passed vide which services of the petitioners were
protected and the respondents were directed not to dispense with
them, subject to final outcome of the writ petition. Reference to the
said orders may not be necessary as they are of different dates and
different writ petitions. In some of the cases, gradation certificates
were not issued in view of the administrative order dated
07.01.2022 passed by the Director since the very
affiliation/recognition of the Haryana Athletic Association was de-
recognized by the State government as stated herein above.
Therefore, it is made clear that their cases shall also be considered
depending upon the decision taken by the Director qua recognition
of Haryana Athletic Association. Needless to say, in case any
favorable order is passed qua recognition of Haryana Athletic
Association, the petitioners shall not be put to unnecessary
harassment and their case shall be processed in accordance with
their achievements during the period when they participated in the
various athletic tournaments/achievements which were either
sponsored or organized by the Haryana Athletic Association. In
case of any adverse order, affected sportsmen/athletes will be given
30 days' notice.
12. Disposed of in the above said terms.
13. Photocopy of this order be placed on the connected case
files."
4. In view of the aforesaid, I see no reason as to why benefit of the
judgment/ order ibid be not accorded to the petitioners herein.
5. In the premise, writ petitions are disposed of in terms of judgment
ibid.
6. Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of.
(ARUN MONGA)
JUDGE
September 07, 2022
mahavir
Whether speaking/reasoned: Yes/No
Whether reportable: Yes/No
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