The court upheld the validity of the State level seniority list for the post of Block Primary Education Officer as per the amended rules, and clarified the status of the post of Central Head Teacher as a District Cadre post.

JUDGMENT :

ANIL KSHETARPAL, J.

1. Through this writ petition, the petitioners have prayed for the following substantive reliefs:-

“(i) set aside Seniority List (Annexure P-13) dated nil, as arbitrary, illegal and in violation of Rule 11 of the Punjab State Elementary Education (Teaching Cadre) Group ‘C’ Service Rules, 2018 (Annexure P-4).

(ii) issue mandamus to the respondents for preparing/restoring the original seniority list of Centre Head Teachers, which was prepared and maintained at ‘District Level’ in terms of mandate of Rule 11 of the Punjab State Elementary Education (Teaching Cadre) Group ‘C’ Service Rules, 2018 (Annexure P-4).

(iii) issue mandamus to the respondents for considering the petitioners for promotion as Block Primary Education Officers, in their respective districts, as per their seniority in their respective districts.

(iv) stay the operation and implementation of the impugned Seniority List (Annexure P-13), during the pendency of the present petition before this Hon'ble Court.

(v) restrain the respondents from carrying out any appointment or promotion to the post of Block Primary Education Officer on the basis of Seniority List (Annexure P-13) during the pendency of the present petition before this Hon'ble Court.

(vi) staying the Advertisement No. 7 dated nil (Annexure P-16) during the pendency of the present writ petition.”

2. The petitioners are working as Central Head Teachers in their respective Districts. The cadre of Primary Teachers who are also known as JBT Teachers or Elementary Trained Teachers used to include Elementary Trained Teacher or JBT, Head Teacher, Central Head Teacher and Block Primary Education Officer. Learned counsel for the petitioners has depicted the hierarchy of the posts by drawing a pictorial diagram which is extracted as under:-

3. In the year 1998, the State of Punjab notified the Punjab State Education Class III (Primary School Cadre) Service Rules, 1997. The aforesaid four posts in the hierarchy namely Junior Basic Trainer Teacher/EET, Head Teacher, Central Head Teacher and Block Primary Education Officer were governed by the aforesaid rules and all these posts were District Cadre posts. Thereafter, in the year 2018, the State of Punjab bifurcated the teachers into two different groups. A separate cadre was created for the teachers posted in the border areas. The State of Punjab notified the Punjab State Elementary Education (Teaching Cadre) Cadre C Service Rules, 2018 while repealing the 1997 rules. Similarly, for primary teachers posted in the border area, the State notified new rules namely the Punjab State Elementary Education (Border Area) Group ‘C’ Rules, 2018. As per the 2018 Rules, the aforementioned posts of JBT Teachers/Elementary Trained Teacher and Head Teacher and Central Head Teacher were notified as District Cadre posts. As per Rule 11 of the 2018 Rules, the seniority list of the members of the service was required to be maintained at the District level.

4. The State further notified the Punjab State Elementary Education (Administrative Cadre) Group ‘B’ Service Rules, 2018. Similarly, for the Border area, the Punjab State Elementary Education (Administrative Cadre) Group ‘B’ Service Rules, 2018 were notified. As per these rules, the post of Block Primary Education Officer was again notified to be a District Cadre post and Rule 10 provides that the seniority list of the members of the service shall be maintained in the respective District. Under the rules, the post of Block Primary Education Officer is a Group ‘B’ post. 50% of the posts are to be filled up by direct recruitment whereas the remaining 50% posts are reserved for promotees. For the purpos