Personnel from the Indian Military Nursing Service qualify as ex-servicemen under the Punjab Recruitment of Ex-Servicemen Rules, 1982, allowing them to claim reservation benefits.

JUDGMENT :

PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The short question arising for our consideration is whether the recruitment advertisement issued by the Punjab Public Service Commission inter alia providing reservation for “ex-servicemen”, would include personnel from the Indian Military Nursing Service,¹[Hereinafter “IMNS”.].

3. The appellant, an ex-serviceman, having worked as Captain in the Medical Core of Indian Army, was selected and appointed under the advertisement as Extra Assistant Commissioner (Under Training) in the Punjab Civil Services (Executive Branch). She joined service on 09.12.2022. The contesting party, respondent no. 4, was released from IMNS and also applied under the same advertisement as an ‘ex-serviceman’, but her candidature was rejected by the State on 20.05.2021 on the ground that she does not qualify under this category. Her writ petition against the rejection of her candidature was dismissed by the learned single judge, holding that IMNS personnel cannot claim reservation benefits under the “ex-servicemen” category. This decision was based on the interpretation of the Ex-Servicemen (Re-employment in Central Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979,²[Hereinafter “Central Rules, 1979”.]. The division bench, however allowed respondent no. 4’s writ appeal by the order impugned before us. It concluded that the relevant rules governing the recruitment, i.e., the Punjab Recruitment of Ex-Servicemen Rules, 1982,³[Hereinafter “Punjab Rules, 1982”.] do not disqualify persons who have retired from or been released from the IMNS from claiming the benefit available to ex-servicemen. Consequently, the High Court directed that respondent no. 4, if found meritorious, be appointed forthwith and be given notional benefits of service.

4. Pending disposal of the Special Leave Petition filed by the appellant, this Court granted an interim order staying the judgment and order passed by the High Court and as such the appellant, appointed on 09.12.2022 is continuing in service.

5. We have heard Mr. Vinay Kumar Garg, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant, Mr. MV Mukunda for contesting respondent no. 4, and Ms. Nupur Kumar for the State of Punjab.

6. Short and necessary facts are as follows. The Punjab Public Service Commission issued an advertisement on 12.12.2020 inviting applications for recruitment to number of posts under the Punjab Civil Service (Executive Branch). Clause 2 of the advertisement provided the number of vacancies as well as the posts for which reservation is provided. This included reservation for Ex-Servicemen (ESM) and Lineal Descendants of Ex-servicemen (LDESM) as provided for under the Punjab Rules, 1982. Note (1)(b) of Clause 11 confines the reservation only to residents of Punjab.

7. Rules 3 and 4 of the Punjab Rules, 1982 relate to the scope and extent of their application and reservations provided. The relevant portion of the said Rules are extracted hereinbelow for ready reference:

“Rule 3. Extent of Application. - These rules shall apply to all the State Civil Services and posts connected with the affairs of the State of Punjab, except the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretariat Service and the Punjab Superior Judicial Service.

Rule 4. Reservation of Vacancies. (1) Subject to the provision of rule 3, 13% of vacancies to be filled in by direct appointment in all the State Civil Services and posts connected with the affairs of the State of Punjab shall be reserved for being filled in by recruitment of Ex-servicemen.”

8. The reservation for ‘ex-servicemen’ under the advertisement must be understood as per the definition in Rule 2(c) of the Punjab Rules, 1982, which is as under:

“2. Definitions - In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires ‘Armed Forces of the Union’ means the Naval, Military and Air Forces of the Union of India;

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(c) "Ex-serviceman" means a person who has served in any rank, whether as a combatant or a non-combatant, in the Naval, Military and Air Forces of