Sh. NASIRUDDIN Versus SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT, PUNJAB, COMMUNICATION & WORKS DEPARTMENT

ORDER

SAAD SAOOD JAN (CHAIRMAN).‑ The appellant joined service in the former Bahawalpur State as Overseer which appointment he held till the time of integration. In 1965 he was promoted as officiating S. D. O. on a temporary basis purely as a stop gap arrangement. In November 1965 he was reverted back to his substantive appointment as Overseer presumably on the ground that he was amongst the junior most S.U.OS. He preferred an appeal before the Punjab Civil Services Appellate Tribunal challenging his senority with reference to some other Overseers who had been retained as S.D.Os. on the ground that they were senior to him. During the course of arguments an undertaking was given by the Administrative Department that his case would be again considered and in case he was found senior to some of the Overseers who had not been reverted he would be given relief. Consequent upon this undertaking he was again promoted as S.D.O. on 9‑12‑1971. His promotion was however, not approved by the Public Service Commission and by an order dated 16‑12‑1973 he was reverted. He has come to this Tribunal against the order of reversion.

2. The main contention of the appellant is that in the Bahawalpur State to which he belonged it was not necessary to consult the Punjab Service Commission when making promotion from the rank of Overseers to the rank of S.D.Os. Since his terms and conditions of service were protected at the time of integration the administrative department acted illegally in referring his case for promotion to the Public Service Commission and then reverting him on the advice of the said body.

3. We have considered the contention of the learned counsel but we do not find any force in it. In the first place the appellant has not placed before us the relevant sets of rules of the old Bahawalpur State which dispensed with the requirements of consultation with the Public Service Commission at the time of making promotions of non‑gazetted officials which overseers were to Class It in which category the S. D. Os. fall. Apart from that the guarantees given at the time of integration did not cover prospects of promotion. It is always open to the West Pakistan Government to lay down its own rules for the purpose of making promotions of the pre‑integration civil servants. It is also to be noticed that under the Constitution of 1956 which was enacted soon after integration consultation with the Public Service Commission was a constitutional obligation of the Government in all cases which were not specifically exempted from the purview of the said body. This position continued to obtain under the 1962 Constitution as well as the Interim Constitution. We are, therefore, not impressed by the argument of the appellant that the Punjab Government acted illegally in referring his case to the Punjab Service Commission and then reverting him on its advice.

4. There is another aspect of the matter also. The reversion of the appellant has been on the merits of his case; to put it differently, he has been reverted because he has been found unfit to hold the appointment of an S.D.O. The question of fitness of a person to hold a higher post is a matter which falls outside the purview of this Tribunal as will appear from paragraph (b) of the proviso to Section 4 of the Punjab Administrative Tribunals Act. As such, this appeal appears to be misconceived.

5. For the reasons stated above we do not find any force in this appeal which is hereby dismissed in limine.