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Writ Petition No. 1575 of 1979, decided on 25th January, 1983.

‑‑‑S.17(1‑A)‑‑Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art.199‑‑Compulsory retirement from service‑‑Order of compulsory retirement of petitioner Line Superintendent, having been held by High Court, in earlier writ petition, to be without lawful authority, WAPDA reverting him to his parent Department, Provincial Irrigation and Power Department‑‑Such Department having no post of Line Superintendent not in a position to accommodate petitioner‑‑Case of petitioner referred to Provincial Government for advice which in turn taking up matter with Establishment Division, Government of Pakistan requesting to direct Chairman, WAPDA to take back petitioner Line Superintendent as Provincial Government had no post to absorb him‑‑Progress of matter not known to concerned Department‑‑Petitioner, as long as order passed in earlier writ petition held the field, was entitled to remain in service and to be accommodated as such‑‑Public interest demanded that matter should be decided once for all as early as possible if not already finalized.

Mubashir Latif Ahmad for Petitioner.

Qazi M. Dastgir for Respondent.

Date of hearing: 22nd September, 1982.

Muhammad Saeed Butt petitioner was compulsorily retired on the 17th of December, 1976 under section 17(1‑A) of the Water and Power Development Authority Act, 1958. He challenged the said order by means of Writ Petition No. 1761/S of 1977. This was decided by me on 16th of April, 1978. The impugned order in that petition was held to be without lawful authority and as such of no legal consequence.

The petitioner thereafter filed another Constitution Petition (W.P. No. 4102 of 1978). In this, he challenged the office order dated 1‑8‑1978 whereby he was reverted to the Irrigation and Power Department. This petition was disposed of by Muhammad Zafarullah, J. on 16‑8‑1978. The learned Judge observed:

"The decision of WAPDA to revert him back to the Government Department only amounts to his coming back to his parent Organization. He can have no grievance against that and therefore, has no case in the writ petition."

The petitioner filed an Intra‑Court Appeal (I.C.A. No.170 of 1978) against the aforesaid order of the learned Judge in Chamber. The appeal was dismissed on 23‑8‑1978.

This is the third time the petitioner has come to this Court by means of this petition under Article 199 of the Constitution.

The two respondents in this petition are WAPDA and Secretary to Government of Punjab, irrigation and Power Department. The petitioner's grievance is that after the decision of W.P. No. 1761‑S of 1977, neither WAPDA nor the Secretary, Irrigation and Power Department is accepting him. He accordingly prays for a direction that he be allowed to resume duty in the Electricity Department.

During the hearing of this petition, learned counsel submitted that the petitioner had not been paid his dues either by the Government or by WAPDA. A written application to that effect was also moved.

I sent for the Additional Advocate‑General and directed him to look into the matter as a result of which the petitioner got a cheque of Rs.27,000 from the Government. He claimed another amount of Rs.10,000 from WAPDA. This claim has also been met.

The sole contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner was that the petitioner was being shuttle cocked from one Department to another and nobody was accepting him. According to the learned counsel, this was being done to defeat the order passed by this Court in W.P. No. 1761‑S of 1977.

Incidently, I may mention here that the aforesaid order has been challenged by WAPDA in the Supreme Court of Pakistan where the matter is still sub judice.

I called for reports from the respondents which were placed on record. The same have been examined by the learned counsel for the petitioner. I have also heard the two Advocates appearing on behalf of the respondents who prayed for the dismissal of the petition on the ground that the petitioner had no cause of action.

The petitioner was referred to Irrigation and Power Depart men by WAPDA as his services were no longer required by them. The said Department had no post of Line Superintendent. The petitioner as such could not be accommodated. His case was referred to SGA&I Department for advice as to what was to be done in the matter. Paragraph 8 of the report is relevant which is to the following effect:‑

"The SGA&I Department have taken up the matter with the Establishment Division, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad with a request that Chairman, WAPDA may be advised not to revert employees of Electricity Department of Provincial Government.

In the instant case, the Establishment Division, Cabinet Secretariat has also been requested by the SGA&I Department to direct the Chairman, WAPDA to take back Mr. Muhammad Saeed Butt, Line Superintendent for the reason that Provincial Government has no post to absorb the petitioner. The I & P Department is not aware of the present position of the case."

As long as the order passed in W.P. No. 1761/S of 1977 holds the field, the petitioner is entitled to remain in service. He is to be accommodated as such. I am sure neither of the respondents would be so gracious enough to pay emoluments of the petitioner without utilizing his services. If it is so done, it will be a bad precedent and would be unnecessary burden on the national exchequer.

At present, I am not inclined to issue any direction because I think, in view of the paragraph referred to above, some decision must have been made as to what is to be done in the case of the petitioner and other similar cases. If the matter has not been finalized so far, then it is in the public interest to decide the same once for all as early as possible.

S.Q./M‑184/L

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