IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision : 17.02.2026 Kuldeep Singh ...... Petitioner Versus Financial Commissioner (Appeals), Punjab and others ...... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSH BUNGER Present :- Mr. B.S. Seemar, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Navneet Singh, Additional AG Punjab.

Mr. Rai Singh Chauhan, Mr. Rohit Sapehiya, Advocates for respondent No. 4.

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HARSH BUNGER, J.

1. Prayer in the instant civil writ petition filed under Articles 226/227 of Constitution of India, inter alia, is for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for setting aside the order dated 04.07.2019 (Annexure P-3), passed by learned Commissioner, Ferozepur Division, Ferozepur (in short 'Divisional Commissioner'), whereby he had set aside the appointment of petitioner as Lambardar of village Ratta Khera Baja Kotwal, Tehsil and District Ferozepur, made by learned Collector, Ferozepur (in short 'Collector'), vide order dated 19.04.2017 (Annexure P-1) and further remanded the matter to learned Collector.

1.1 A further prayer has been made for setting aside order dated 21.11.2022 (Annexure P-6), passed by learned Financial Commissioner (Appeals), Punjab (in short 'Financial Commissioner'), whereby appeal (ROA-35-2019), preferred by petitioner (Kuldeep Singh) against learned Divisional Commissioner's order dated 04.07.2019 (Annexure P-3), has been dismissed.

2. Briefly, on demise of Shri Mohinder Singh, previous Lambardar of village Ratta Khera Baja Kotwal, Tehsil and District Ferozepur, proceedings were initiated for filling up the aforesaid vacancy, wherein petitioner (Kuldeep Singh) and respondent No. 4 (Partap Singh)

were also the candidates.

2.1 Naib Tehsildar, Zira as well as Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ferozepur, recommended the candidature of petitioner (Kuldeep Singh) for appointment to the aforesaid vacancy and placed the matter before learned Collector.

2.2 Learned Collector, vide order dated 19.04.2017 (Annexure P-1), appointed the petitioner (Kuldeep Singh) as Lambardar of village Ratta Khera Baja Kotwal.

2.3 Feeling aggrieved against learned Collector's order dated 19.04.2017 (Annexure P-1), respondent No. 4 (Partap Singh) preferred an appeal before learned Divisional Commissioner, which came to be allowed, vide order dated 04.07.2019 (Annexure P-3), whereby learned Collector's order was set aside and the matter was remanded to learned Collector for deciding the same by taking into consideration the pendency of criminal cases and other charges against the petitioner as well as respondent No. 4 and also taking into consideration the work experience of respondent No. 4 as Sarbarah Lambardar.

2.4 Being dis-satisfied, petitioner (Kuldeep Singh) challenged learned Divisional Commissioner's order by filing an appeal (ROA-35-2019) before learned Financial Commissioner, which has been dismissed, vide order dated 21.11.2022 (Annexure P-6).

3. In the aforementioned circumstances, petitioner has filed the instant civil writ petition before this Court for seeking relief(s), as noticed hereinabove

4. Heard.

5. Here, it would be apposite to refer to relative merits of petitioner and respondent No. 4 (as noticed by learned Collector), which are as under :-

5.1 A bare perusal of above extracted chart would show that petitioner has an edge over respondent No. 4 inasmuch as that petitioner is younger in age and more educated than respondent No. 4 and even the candidature of petitioner was recommended by Naib Tehsildar, Zira and Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ferozepur.

5.2 Learned Collector, after considering relative merits and demerits of candidates, appointed the petitioner (Kuldeep Singh) as Lambardar of village Ratta Khera Baja Kotwal, vide order dated 19.04.2017 (Annexure P-1), by observing as under :-

“The pleadings put forth by the learned counsel were taken into consideration. Record was perused. From the perusal of record it is revealed that Numberdar Mohinder Singh who had been died on 14.08.2014 he had appoin