GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB vs Prof. ABDUS SATTAR CHOHAN and another
This matter arises from petitions for special leave to appeal filed by the Government of the Punjab against a judgment of the Provincial Service Tribunal. Respondent No. 1, an Assistant Conservator in the Forest Department, had been permitted to take up a foreign assignment in Nigeria, during which period junior officers were promoted to Conservators of Forest. Upon his return and subsequent promotion, his request for back-dating his promotion to claim seniority over junior officers was rejected by the department based on government instructions requiring civil servants on foreign assignments to return and earn a good report prior to promotion. The Service Tribunal set aside the departmental decision, holding that the instructions violated section 9 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act and specific rules of the Punjab Civil Service Rules. The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal, holding that the contention regarding promotion not being a matter of right and the alleged conflict between executive instructions and statutory provisions raised a question of law of considerable public importance affecting numerous civil servants.
- Whether executive instructions requiring a civil servant on a foreign assignment to return and earn a good report before promotion violate the Punjab Civil Servants Act?
- Is promotion a matter of right for a civil servant who is passed over while serving abroad?
- Does the deferment of a civil servant's promotion during a foreign assignment violate established civil service rules?
- Section 9, Punjab Civil Servants Act 1974
- Rule 4.13, Punjab Civil Service Rules, Volume I, Part I
- Rule 10.5, Punjab Civil Service Rules, Volume I, Part I
ORDER
' SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.--Respondent No,1, Safdar Ali Chaudhry, in these two petitions for special leave to appeal was Assistant Conservator in the Forest Department of the Punjab Government. In 1973 he was permitted on his own request to take up an assignment in the North Western State of Nigeria for a period of four years. After the expiry of the said period, the period of the assignment was extended by periodic orders and ultimately he returned to Pakistan in 1983. While he was out of Pakistan, some officers junior to him were promoted as Conservators of Forest. The selection committee considered his case for promotion also in his absence but deferred it with the observation that it should be taken up after his return to Pakistan. On his return to Pakistan he was also promoted to that grade. He made representations that his promotion should be back-dated to coincide with the time when the officers junior to him were promoted so that he would retain his seniority in the higher grade. His representations were rejected by the departmental authorities. He then filed an appeal before the Provincial Service Tribunal.
2. Before the Tribunal the Department took up the position that there were instructions by the Federal Government which had been adopted by the Provincial Government to the effect that a civil servant who has gone out of country on an assignment should not be promoted to the next grade unless and until he returned to Pakistan and earned one good report. The learned Tribunal took the view that these instructions were repugnant to the provisions of section 9 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act and Rules 4.13 and 10.5 of the Punjab Civil Service Rules, Volume I, Part I and that respondent No,1 was entitled to be considered for promotion with effect from the date the officer next junior to him was promoted. In view of this matter, it accepted the appeal and gave directions accordingly to the Department. The Provincial Government seeks leave to appeal from the judgment of the learned Tribunal.
3. The contention canvassed in support of these petitions is that promotion is not a matter of right and the learned Tribunal was wrong in holding that the instructions of the Federal Government as adopted by the Provincial Government violated the provision of section 9 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act and Rules 4.13 and 10.5 of the Civil Service Rules. This contention needs examination. It raises a question of law of considerable public importance for it will affect a very large number of civil servants who go on an assignment abroad and on return find that officers junior to them have been in the meanwhile promoted to high grades. Leave is therefore granted. The appeals may be made ready for hearing on the present record with permission to the parties to file additional documents, if any.