O R D E R

03.02.2021 (Sudhanshu Dhulia, C.J.)

Heard Mr. UK Nair, learned senior counsel for the petitioner, Mr. I Choudhury, learned senior counsel for the respondent No.5 and Mr. S Baruah, learned counsel for the Pollution Control Board, Assam.

2. The petitioner before this Court is a Senior Environmental Engineer in Pollution Control Board of Assam. By means of the present writ petition, he has challenged Regulation 9(II)(e), which is a condition for promotion, which makes it mandatory for an incumbent to have a minimum of two years of field experience as Head of Regional office, either at the level of Executive Engineer (EE) or Senior Environmental Engineer (SEE), as the case might be.

3. The case of the petitioner before this Court is that he joined the Engineer and Technical Branch of Service in Pollution Control Board, Assam in the month of May, 1993 as Assistant Engineer. Thereafter, he was promoted to the post of Assistant Executive Engineer on 23.02.2006 and then Executive Engineer on 10.11.2009 and Senior Environmental Engineer on 12.04.2012. Now, when he was to be considered for the post of Additional Chief Environmental Engineer, he has challenged the statutory provision on the ground of arbitrariness and on an assertion that this provision has absolutely no nexus with the object sought to be achieved and hence violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

4. We must also record that in the promotional exercise, the Selection Committee has already promoted respondent No.5 to the only vacant post of Additional Chief Environmental Engineer, which is at the Headquarter at Guwahati.

5. Sub-section (3A) of Section 12 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 provides that a method of recruitment to the Central Pollution Board or the State Pollution Board shall be made by way of regulations, which have to be framed by the Central Board or the State Board, as the case might be, but it has to be approved by the Central Government or the State Government (as the case might be). The precise provisions as contained in Sub-section (3A) of Section 12 read as under:-

“(3A) The method of recruitment and the terms and conditions of service (including the scales of pay) of the officers (other than the member-secretary) and other employees of the Central Board as a State Board shall be such as may be determined by regulations made by the Central Board or, as the case may be, by the state Board.

Provided that no regulation made under this sub-section shall take effect unless,-

(a) in the case of a regulation made by the Central Board, it is approved by the Central Government; and (b) in the case of a regulation made by a State Board, it is approved by the State Government.”

6. Subsequent to the above provisions which were incorporated in the year 1978, regulations were framed for the Assam Pollution Control Board in the year 2012 known as Pollution Control Board, Assam (Employees’ Service) Regulation, 2012, and were approved by the Government on 26.02.2014. A provision of the said Regulations has been put to challenge by the petitioner Sri Mukunda Madhab Bora in this present petition, as we have already referred above.

7. Admittedly, there are nine regional offices, which are at Guwahati (Metro), Guwahati (Rural), Dibrugarh, Sivsagar, Silchar, Tezpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon and Nagaon. Out of these nine regional offices, five regional offices are headed by a Senior Environmental Engineer i.e. at Guwahati (Metro), Guwahati (Rural), Tezpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon and Nagaon. The other regional offices are headed by an Executive Engineer. The condition which has been put under challenge, requires that a person would become eligible for promotion to the post of Additional Chief Environmental Engineer and Chief Engineer only if he has two years of experience as a head of a regional office. As already stated above, one can be a head of a regional office either in the capacity of a Senior Environmental Engineer or in the capaci