The central legal point established in the judgment is that appointments to public offices must adhere to the principles of equality of opportunity and fair selection processes as prescribed by law.

ORDER :

The instant petitions involve issues which are analogous and akin to each other, as such, are being disposed of by this common judgment.

Before proceeding further in the matter, it would be appropriate to give a brief background of the petitions hereunder:-

WP(C) No. 326/2021

1. In the instant petition, the petitioner has sought the following reliefs:-

a. Writ of Certiorari quashing order No. 164-DULBJ of 2021 dated 08.02.2021 issued by the respondent No. 2.

b. Writ of Certiorari quashing communication No. HUD/LSG/ULBJ/35/2020 dated 25.01.2021 read with letter No. HUD/LSG/ULBJ/35/2020 dated 22.12.2020.

c. Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents not to terminate the services of the petitioner as Tax Collector, Municipal Committee Akhnoor or any other post in the department and to release the pay scale in favour of the petitioner attached to the post of Tax Collector from 28.02.2002.

The aforesaid reliefs are prayed on the premise that the petitioner being a graduate having six months certificate course in computer application to his credit as also being a member of RBA category, came to be appointed as Revenue Assistant by the respondent 2 on consolidated salary of Rs.950/- per month for a period of 89 days in terms of Order No.DLBJ/97/Adm/6658-61 dated 06.05.1997 which came to be further extended for a period of 89 days in terms of Order No. DLJBK/97/Adm/9920-22 dated 06.08.1997 and subsequently the services of the petitioner regularized vide Order No. 91-HUD of 2002 dated 28.02.2002 as Sanitary Supervisor on consolidated pay of Rs.2000/- per month against an available vacancy in Town Area Committee Udhampur.

Subsequent to the aforesaid regularization of the petitioner, since the services of the petitioner was not placed in a proper pay-scale and that petitioner in the meantime, have had been transferred to Municipal Committee, Akhnoor, the case of the petitioner for placing him in a regular pay-scale came to be considered in the Elected House of Municipal Committee, Akhnoor in its meeting held on 19.12.2009, wherein it came to be resolved that the petitioner’s service be placed in regular pay-scale of Rs.3050-4590 and consequently upon the recommendation made in this regard vide letter No. MCA/2009/1223/24 dated 24.12.2009 followed by further recommendation in letter No. MCA/2012/505 dated 08.10.2012, the respondent 2 in terms of Order No. DULBJ/2013/17147 dated 22.12.2012 placed the petitioner in the grade of Rs.3050-4590 against the post of Tax Collector, Municipal Committee, Akhnoor.

Since the petitioner was not extended the benefit of his past service after he was placed in the regular pay-scale by the respondents, the petitioner approached this court through SWP No. 745-A/2002 for seeking redressal of his grievances.

There were no recruitment rules in the respondents-department in place and the same came into being on 18.12.2008 as the Jammu & Kashmir Urban Local Bodies Institution (Management)Service Recruitment Rules, 2008 (for short "the Rules of 2008").

An FIR came to be registered being FIR No. 08/2014 by the then Vigilance Organization, Jammu against various persons on the ground that the appointments had been secured and made in the respondents-department without following the rules which FIR came to be challenged by some of the accused persons before this court in CRMC No. 409/2018 pending before this court.

The respondent 2 in the year 2020 issued a show cause notice No. DUDLJ/2019-20/18083-84 dated 02.03.2020 to the petitioner, calling upon him to explain as to why his services be not terminated being illegal and made in contravention of rules/law, which show cause notice was replied by the petitioner, justifying his appointment and regularization in the department, while relying upon similar engagements and regularizations of various other persons in the respondents-department as also the report of a committee to enquire into the said illegal appointments, which committee had opined in its report that no permane