ORDER :

(Karunesh Singh Pawar, J.)

1. Heard Shri Sidharth Khare, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Shri Vikram Bahadur Singh, learned Standing Counsel for the State.

2. By this petition, the petitioner has prayed for the following relief:-

It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issued:-

a writ, order or direction of a suitable nature commanding the respondent to forthwith grant of promotion to the petitioner as Junior Engineer (Mechanical) in Public Works Department of the State under 5% quota for promotion available to Group C employees of the department w.e.f. the date the first Group C employees junior than the petitioner was so granted promotion within a period to be specified by this Hon'ble court.

(ii) a writ, order or direction of a suitable nature commanding the respondent to permit the petitioner to function as Junior Engineer (Mechanical) under them and to pay the petitioner his regular monthly salary on the said post, regularly, every month including all arrears of salary w.e.f. the date from which the first Group 'C' employees junior than the petitioner have been so promoted.

(iii) a writ, order or direction in the nature of which this Hon'ble court may deem fit and proper under the circumstances of the case."

3. Pursuant to the advertisement dated 19.11.2007 issued by the Executive Engineer, Provincial Division, Mainpuri, the petitioner has applied for appointment against the post of Heavy Mechanic Machine Operator and work agent by way of direct recruitment for filling up unfilled vacancies of the reserved category post. The qualification advertised for the post of Heavy Machine Operator was intermediate certificate or equivalent. Possession of experience was specified as a provincial qualification.

4. It is submitted that the petitioner possesses a diploma in mechanical engineering passed in the year 1991 from the Board of Technical Education U.P. The advertisement as well as certificate of the diploma are contained in Annexure No. 1 and 2 to the petition. The petitioner belongs to a scheduled caste category and applied for the said category. The petitioner was selected and was granted appointment by the office order dated 06.12.2007 in the pay scale of Rs. 3050-4590. Thereafter the petitioner joined and is in continuous service and presently is posted in District Mainpuri. The work and conduct of the petitioner has been satisfactory. The post of the petitioner is categorized in Group-C. The pay scale of the petitioner was revised from time to time vide office orders dated 07.10.2003, 14.05.2012 and 03.10.2012.

5. In public works department there existed a post of Junior Engineer (Civil) and Junior Engineer (Mechanical). On 01.01.2015, The State Government U.P., notified U.P. Lok Nirman Vibhag Avar Abhiyanta (Civil) (Group-C), Service Rules 2014 and also U.P. Lok Nirman Vibhag Avar Abhiyanta (Mechanical) (Group-C) Service Rules 2014. Under both the rules there existed 5 percent quota of promotion to the post of Junior Engineer to be filled up by promotion from amongst the substantively appointed Group-C Employees of the department who have obtained the qualification specified in Group-C after obtaining the permission of the department and have completed 10 years of substantive service on the first day of the year of recruitment.

6. It has been further submitted that the petitioner is fully qualified and eligible to be considered for the promotion against the five percent quota of Junior Engineer.

7. It has been further submitted that the Chief Engineer (Establishment), Group-C category by communication dated 03.10.2016 sought information pertaining to Group 'C' Staff of the department eligible for consideration for promotion under 5 percent quota for the post of Junior Engineer. Responding to the said notification, the Executive Engineer, Provincial Division, Mainpuri, intimated that there was no such Group-C staff in this division. The aforesaid response dat