Jammu and Kashmir High Court: The Division Bench of Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Sindhu Sharma, JJ. dismissed an order passed by the Single Judge in respect of determination of seniority.
The brief facts of the case are that the appellants claimed that they were appointed as Junior Engineers vide an order and claimed to be senior to the private respondents herein. The final seniority list of Junior Engineers (Civil) Degree Holders was filed in this regard. It was urged that in reference to the final seniority list so issued, promotions were made to the post of Incharge Assistant Engineers as Assistant Executive Engineers on officiating basis in their own pay and grade, which included the appellants as also the private respondents.
The names of the appellants as also the private respondents figured in the aforementioned Government order, as per their respective seniorities. The appellant contended that by virtue of the government order the seniority of respondents was illegally and arbitrarily determined over and above the appellants and they were placed as Incharge Executive Engineers in utter violation and contravention to the seniority of the appellants. A writ petition came to be filed by the appellants/petitioners before the Writ Court, seeking certiorari in regard to this Government Order.
The petition, however, was dismissed with the direction that the seniority list is to be reframed.
The Court held that the Writ Court did not address all the issues placed by the appellants/petitioners before the Writ Court and was disposed of with a general direction without determining the issue as to whether the placement of respondents over and above the petitioners/appellants was correctly done in terms of the impugned Government order or not. The order was set aside allowing the parties an opportunity to complete the pleadings. [Hari Bhushan v. State of J&K, 2018 SCC OnLine J&K 1032, decided on 31-12-2018]
