K.M. Joseph, C.J. (Oral)

Petitions, three in number, being connected, we are disposing of the same by a common judgment.

2. Writ Petition (S/B) No. 2 of 2014 is filed by three writ petitioners. The prayers sought in the writ petition are as follows:

“1. To summon the complete record pertaining to the case.

2. To issue the Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent authorities to treat the petitioners promoted on the post of Superintending Engineer since 05.02.2007 i.e. the date of promotion of juniors to the petitioners and consider the promotion of the petitioners for the post of Chief Engineer, Level-II from the date their juniors were promoted.”

3. Briefly put, the case of the petitioners is as follows:

Petitioners were appointed in Irrigation Department of the erstwhile State of Uttar Pradesh in the post of Assistant Engineer during 1979. The further higher posts are posts of Executive Engineer, Superintending Engineer, Chief Engineer and Head of the Department. The State of Uttarakhand came into being with effect from 09.11.2000 on the basis of the U.P. State Reorganisation Act, 2000. Options were invited by the Government of India from the personnel to serve either in the State of Uttarakhand or Uttar Pradesh. Petitioners submitted their options for being absorbed in the State of Uttarakhand. Most of the personnel opting for Uttarakhand State were already serving in the geographical boundaries of Uttarakhand. There is reference to the erstwhile U.P. Hill Sub-cadre. There is reference to Uttarakhand Government Servants Seniority Rules, 2002. There is also reference to Uttarakhand Irrigation Department Engineering Services (Civil / Mechanical) Group “A” Service Rules, 2003 being enforced with effect from 05.06.2003. Paragraph 11 of Writ Petition (S/B) No. 2 of 2014 reads as follows:

“11. That Part III of the Rules of 2003 deals with recruitment & sources to the various categories of the posts in the service. In sub Rule 1 of Rule 5 states that recruitment to the post of Executive Engineer shall be made by promotion from amongst substantively appointed Assistant Engineers in the Civil or Mechanical Branch, as the case may be, who have completed seven years’ service on the first day of the year of recruitment; sub Rule 2 of Rule 5 states that recruitment to the posts of Superintending Engineers shall be made by promotion from amongst substantively appointed Executive Engineers in the Civil or Mechanical Branch, as the case may be, who have completed total 15 years’ service including at least 6 years’ service as Executive Engineer on the first day of the year of recruitment; and so on.”

4. In substance, there occurred delay in the matter of allocation of erstwhile employees of the State of Uttar Pradesh to the State of Uttarakhand. Final allocation took place on the basis of the order dated 11.05.2006. The State Government is accused of not having taken action for finalizing the seniority list of personnel in the Irrigation Department. Admittedly, petitioners and other similarly placed personnel were not considered for promotion in DPC convened on 08.12.2006 and promotion orders were passed ignoring the fact that there are much more senior personnel. It is complained that regular selections made, pursuant to DPC held on 08.12.2006 from the post of Executive Engineer to the post of Superintending Engineer, were the regular promotions and they did not adhere to the Rules and also ignored the seniority list. There is reference to a judgment of this Court passed in Writ Petition (S/B) No. 322 of 2007 (Jeevan Chandra Joshi vs. State of Uttarakhand through Secretary, Irrigation & others), whereunder this Court directed the Uttarakhand Government to issue final seniority list before 31.07.2009 and, thereafter, to start and complete the promotion process in the shortest possible time. Time was taken (15 months) for finalizing the seniority list. There is a reference to The Uttar