Seniority is determined from the date of substantive appointment, and initial adhoc service, acting as a stop-gap arrangement, cannot be counted for seniority purposes.

SUDEEPTI SHARMA, J.

1. The petitioners in the present writ petition are asking for writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents to maintain the seniority of the petitioners from the date of their official appointment as Tracers/Junior Draftsman as fixed in the seniority list dated 28.11.1996.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners contends that petitioners were selected by Subordinate Services Selection Board and as per the Departmental Selection Committee, the petitioners are senior to the private respondents and after maintaining their seniority as per the seniority rules, the date of promotion of petitioners to the post of Draftsman is required to be antedated to 03.01.1996 from 12.12.2001 and accordingly, they are entitled to consequential benefits.

3. Per contra, learned counsel for respondents argues on the lines of additional affidavit filed by Jitender Pal Singh, Chief Engineer/Headquarters Water Resources Department, Punjab, Chandigarh on behalf of respondent Nos.1 and 2.

4. It would be apposite to reproduce the relevant portion of the affidavit filed by Jitender Pal Singh, Chief Engineer/Headquarters Water Resources Department, Punjab, Chandigarh, which is reproduced as under:-

“2. That the seniority list of Junior Draftsman of P.W.D. Irrigation Branch was prepared and circulated amongst all the field offices with the request that the particulars of the officials whose names have been depicted in the list be checked-up and any variation be pointed out to this office for further corrections, it was also stressed that the names of any official missing in the list may also be intimated along-with their particulars duly verified vide this office letter No. 10818-10918/7NGE.I dated 16.8.91.

3. That the objections/representations from various officials who were recruited through Departmental Selection Committee on adhoc basis for six months were received against the above seniority list and after considering all the representations, the tentative seniority list was prepared and circulated vide this office letter No. 18797-18898/4NGE-1/96 dated 28.11.96. All the field offices were requested to verify the particulars inserted in the seniority list with the service record of the officials. It was also stressed that if any correction is required to be made in this tentative seniority list, the same be intimated to this office within a period of one month. The large number of representations/objections were received through groups of officials to amend the seniority list by giving different opinions. After giving due consideration to all the representations, it was decided to offer the case to the Punjab government to give the policy decision vide this office letter No.10950/4NGE-I dated 19.8.97 explaining the full situation of the case. After protracted correspondence/consideration the Punjab Government had conveyed the decision with consultation of Department of Personnel vide Punjab Government memo No.1/13/98-1PP(3)/17716 dated 1.9.98 (copy enclosed). In this decision it is clearly advised that the tracers appointed on the recommendations of Departmental Selection Committee on six months basis cannot be treated as regular one from the date of appointment. Their seniority be determined w. e. f. 1.4.1985 i.e. the date their services have been regularized in accordance with Punjab Government Instructions.

4. That on receipt of the above decision, the tentative seniority list was prepared in accordance with the Punjab Government decision and circulated amongst the all concerned officials for filing their objections if any against this tentative seniority list within a period of 2 months, for further consideration, thus the opportunity was given.

5.