M. NOOR MUHAMMAD vs DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION (SCHOOLS) and others
This matter arises from a petition for leave to appeal filed against the judgment of the Service Tribunal, which had dismissed the petitioner's appeal regarding the correction of his date of joining government service. The petitioner was appointed as an officiating/temporary Senior English Teacher via notification dated 15-11-1971 and directed to report to a specific school where no vacancy was available, preventing him from assuming charge on 23-11-1971. He was subsequently posted to another school where he took charge on 27-11-1971, which was recorded as his date of entry into service. The core legal question was whether the petitioner's service could be deemed to have commenced from the date he attempted to report at a school with no sanctioned vacancy, or from the date he actually assumed charge where a vacancy existed. The Supreme Court held that since no post was available at the first school and the appointment notification explicitly conditioned joining on available strength, the petitioner could not be treated as having joined service until he assumed charge at the school with an available vacancy on 27-11-1971. The petition was accordingly dismissed.
- Whether a civil servant can claim a date of joining service prior to actually assuming charge of a post where no sanctioned vacancy existed at the initially assigned school?
- Does an appointment notification subject to available sanctioned strength confer a right to join duty where no vacancy is available?
ORDER
' SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.---By a notification issued on 15-11-1971 by the Director of Education, Rawalpindi Region, the petitioner alongwith 46 other persons was appointed as officiating/temporary Senior English Teacher and was posted in the Government High School at Chak 26/MB, Sargodha. He reported to the Head Master of the School on 23-11-1971. He was not permitted to assume charge on the ground that no post against which he could be appointed was available in the School. When this position was brought to the notice of the Directorate he was posted in the Government Technical High School at Jauharabad where he took over charge on 27- 11-1971. In his service book and personal file the date of his joining Government service was entered as 27-11-1971. He made a representation that this date should be corrected as 23-11-1971 when he reported for duties at the School in Chak 26/MB. His representation was rejected whereupon he preferred an appeal before the Service Tribunal. The learned Tribunal dismissed his appeal. He now seeks leave to appeal from this Court.
2. In the notification of 15-11-1971 the places of posting of the appointees were also mentioned.
Apparently, the postings were made without first inquiring whether any vacancies were available in the schools where the appointees were being sent. It was for this reason that the notification contained an endorsement to the Head Masters concerned to the following effect:-- "The appointment if made over and above the sanctioned strength should immediately be brought in the notice of this directorate and the candidate so appointed should be directed to report to this office for further action."
It was in pursuance of this endorsement that the petitioner was not allowed to join the staff of the school at Chak 26/MB and referred back to the Directorate of Education, Since no post was available in this school, he could not be treated to have joined the Government service on 23-11- 1981 when he reported there for duty. It was only on 27-11-1971 when he joined the Government Technical High School at Jauharabad where a vacancy was available that he could be taken to have joined service. The learned Tribunal was, therefore, right in rejecting his claim with regard to the date of his joining Government service. This petition is without any merit and is hereby dismissed.