1991 PLP (C (PLC(CS))

Muhammad Rashid Malik for Respondents. Mrs. Maryam Wasif, M.A. Economics applied for the post of Assistant Professor for Colleges in pursuance of public notice issued by the Public Service Commission, Lahore. She was selected and offered the post of Assistant Professor of Economics in BPS-18 by the Government of Punjab vide order dated 1-8-1989. She accepted the offer and was posted at Government Girls Islamia College, Baddomalhi. She did not join and requested the Government to post her at Lahore because her husband was also posted as Lecturer in F.C. College, Lahore. She applied to the Government for granting her extension in the period to join the service, for she could not move out of Lahore. After the expiry of the said period she made more applications seeking further extension. She also moved the Chief Minister, Punjab for her adjustment at Lahore but without any result. As she did not join for sufficiently long period, the Government of Punjab withdrew the offer of appointment to her on 9-8-1990. Hence this writ petition.

2. It is contended that the order of cancellation of her appointment is arbitrary, mala fide and illegal. There were special instructions of the Chief Minister that the husband and wife in Government service posted at different stations should be brought together by transferring them at one station but in the case of the petitioner it was not complied with. There were two vacancies in Lahore of Assistant Professor of Economics and the Principal of the said colleges had demanded the petitioner's posting in their respective colleges but the Government did not accede to their request. The petitioner was foreign qualified and her posting at Baddomalhi was ridiculous because there being no MA. Classes full benefits of the petitioner's ability could not be derived. In many other cases husband and the wife were posted at one station but discriminatory treatment was meted out to the petitioner.

3. The respondents have contested the petition. According to them, the petitioner is not entitled to ask for posting of her choice. The offer of appointment made to her was withdrawn for her persistently refusing to join despite various extensions granted to her. .

4. The appointment letter of the petitioner shows that she was liable to serve anywhere in the Punjab and that no undertaking was given to her that she will be posted at a station of her own choice. On conveying her acceptance she was posted at Baddomalhi against an existing vacancy on 29-8-1989 and she was required to report for duty within 15 days failing which the appointment was to be cancelled automatically. But she did not comply with it till 9th August, 1990 as a result of which the Government was constrained to withdraw/cancel the offer of appointment made to her. The question of her posting at the same station where her husband was posted would have arisen after she had joined because the directive of the Chief Minister referred to above shows that husband and wife it Government service posted to different stations were brought together by transferring them at one station of duty. The petitioner could not have claimed benefit of the said directive before joining the service. If she had joined at the place offered to her efforts could have been made by the Education Department to accommodate her at the place of the posting of her husband but since she did not join for a considerable period, the Government had no alternative but to cancel her appointment. In the circumstances narrated above, no illegality appears in the impugned order, therefore, the writ petition is dismissed. M.Y.H./M-2561/L?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Petition dismissed