Harish Chander vs State of Himachal Pradesh and Another

Rajiv Sharma, J.—Petitioner was appointed as Investigator on contract basis on 27.11.1999 initially upto 31.3.2000 and thereafter the period was extended upto 30.6.2000. Petitioner worked for about six months with the Respondent and thereafter on the basis of the interim orders dated 20.7.2000 granted by the learned erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal. Case of the Petitioner, in a nutshell, is that Respondent-Department has filled up six posts on contract basis without considering his case. Precise case of the Respondent-department is that Petitioner was appointed upto 30.6.2000 and thereafter his services were discontinued and six posts were sanctioned separately. It is also the case of the Respondents that the Petitioner had not communicated any willingness nor he applied to the department to be considered against the post in question.

The Court is of the considered view that once the process had been started by the Respondents, the Petitioner and other similarly situate persons ought to have been considered and given preference. Respondent-State was directed to seek instructions whether any post was lying vacant with the department. The supplementary affidavit was filed on 10.12.2010. It is abundantly clear from the contents of the supplementary affidavit that nine posts are still lying vacant due to promotions of incumbents to the post of Statistical Assistants.

Accordingly, the petition is disposed of with a direction to the Respondents to consider the case of the Petitioner for appointment as Investigator on contract basis against already sanctioned posts, which are lying vacant after the promotion of the Investigators to the post of Statistical Assistant within a period of one month from the date of production of certified copy of this judgment by the Petitioner. No costs.