Ch. ABDUL HALEEM, XEN vs PROVINCE OF PUNJAB and another
This petition for leave to appeal arose from a decision of the Punjab Service Tribunal regarding the regularisation of service of a senior employee. The respondent civil servant had remained abroad for seven years, and upon his return, the Provincial Government regularised his absence by treating it as various kinds of leave and reinstated him into service. The petitioner, a junior civil servant, challenged this regularisation before departmental authorities and the Service Tribunal, contending that the prolonged absence automatically terminated the respondent's service, rendering his reinstatement unlawful. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition and refused leave to appeal, holding that the petitioner lacked locus standi to challenge the regularisation of another employee's period of absence. The Court laid down the principle that whether a civil servant is taken back into service is exclusively a matter between that civil servant and the Government, and a junior employee cannot claim a cause of action or grievance relating to their own terms and conditions of service merely because the reinstated senior employee retains original seniority.
- Does a junior civil servant have locus standi to challenge the regularisation of absence and reinstatement of a senior civil servant?
- Does the retention of seniority by a reinstated civil servant give a junior civil servant a valid cause of action under service laws?
- Is the decision to regularise an employee's period of absence strictly an administrative matter between the Government and that employee?
ORDER
' SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.---Malik Ahmad Khan, respondent No,1, proceeded abroad on 15-2-1980 where he was gainfully employed. He returned to Pakistan on 11-1-1987. The period of his absence was regularised by the Provincial Government by converting it into different types of leave. The petitioner who was junior to Malik Ahmad Khan unsuccessfully agitated before the departmental authorities against the order by which the period of absence of Malik 'Ahmad Khan was 'regularised and he was taken back into service but without any success. He filed an appeal before the Service Tribunal but that too failed. He now seeks leave to appeal from this Court.
2. The grievance of the petitioner is that on account of absence for the long period of seven years Malik Ahmad Khan had ceased to be in Government service; it was, therefore, not open to the Government to restore him to his post.
3. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner we are not persuaded that he has any locus standi in the matter. The matter whether Malik Ahmad Khan should have been taken back into service was one between him and the Government. The petitioner does not come into the picture at all for the said question does not relate to his terms and conditions of service. The fact that Malik Ahmad Khan, on joining service will retain his seniority does not give the petitioner a cause of action. Leave to appeal is accordingly refused.