P L D 1964 Supreme Court 17 (PLP)

M. B. Zaman Advocate Supreme Court instructed by Ijaz Ali Attorney for Respondents Nos. 3 and

4. Muhammad Shafi Senior Advocate Supreme Court (Shaukat Ali Khawaja Advocate Supreme Court with him) instructed by Muhammad Nazar Khan Attorney for Respondent No.

5. Date of hearing : 21st October 1963. CORNELIUS, C. J.‑This appeal by special leave is brought to call in question the issue of a writ by a Division Bench of the High Court of West Pakistan at Peshawar, which is worded in the form of a direction: "to the Government that if and when the vacancy of the Conservator of Forests in the region which was previously known as North‑West Frontier Province arises, then it must, in the first instance, be given to the person, who prior to the 10th of August 1955, was serving in that province, subject of course to the efficiency and capability of that officer". The third prayer made by the petitioners who were two Deputy Conservators of Forests posted at Abbottabad and Mardan respectively was in the following terms :‑ "that a writ of a mandamus be issued directing the respon dents not to jeopardize the petitioners prospects for higher appointments". A more loosely worded prayer for a writ it is difficult to imagine. It is possible however to gain an idea of what exactly was the protection sought by the officers from the averments of facts contained in their petition. They started by claiming to have been in Class I Service on the date of integration of the various units into West Pakistan, namely, 14th October 1955, and referred next to the fact that by a letter of the 17th January 1957, Sub‑Divisional Forest Officers in the former Province of Sind holding Class II posts accord ing to the rules of the Sind Province, were declared to be holders of Class I posts. Next, it was said that by an order of the 11th February 1957, 9 posts of Divisional Forest Officers including those in the Abbottabad circle with which the petitioners were concerned, had been declared as Class II posts. Declaring that these orders were " against the facts and law and the principles of the natural justice", the petitioners set out their grounds which were addressed exclusively to two questions, firstly, the propriety of declaring posts of Sub- Divisional Forest Officers in the former Sind as Class I posts and secondly, the orders reducing the status of posts of Divisional Forest Officer in certain areas to Class II. Three prayers were made, namely, firstly, a writ to nullify the orders raising the status of Sub‑Divisional Forest Officers in Sind to Class I, secondly, a writ of mandamus requiring the Govern ment to fix the seniority of the petitioners as members of Class I Officers with effect from the date of first continuous appointment as Divisional Forest Officers (this was to avoid the effect of the recent down‑grading of these posts to Class II) and thirdly, the prayer for a writ of mandamus which has been reproduced above. The first two prayers were rendered unnecessary by a statement on behalf of the Government that the orders raising the status of the Sind posts of Sub‑Divisional Forest Officers to Class I were being amended, and secondly, that the down grading of posts of Divisional Forest Officers would have no effect on the individual status of holders of those posts in the class of service to which they belonged. It was in relation to the third prayer that the learned Judges of the Division Bench issued the writ, the wording of which has been reproduced above, and it is immediately evident that the writ or direction issued had no concern whatsoever with the subject matter of the petition. The basis for the issue of the writ is that as a result of orders of integration of services passed on the 25th November 1955, which placed the posts of Conservators of Forests in a category to which appointment by promotion was to be made on an All‑West Pakistan basis for pre‑unification officers, the prospects of promotion of the two petitioners to such a post had been prejudiced and they found it possible to regard this as a violation of the guarantee given by Article 232 of the Consti tution of 1956, which continued in favour of persons serving the State on and after the 23rd March 1956, the same terms and conditions as were applicable to them immediately before that day. The learned Judges thought that this guaranteed to officers serving in the small cadre of Forest Officers in the North‑West Frontier Province the same chance of promotion to the post of Conservator of Forests after the 23rd March 1956, as they had enjoyed prior to that date. In fact, by the effect of integration and the subsequent orders of the Government of West Pakistan dated the 25th November 1955, in this very respect, the terms and conditions of service of officers serving in any of the units which were integrated into the Province of West Pakistan had been materially altered. Thus, persons serving as Divisional Forest Officers in a small Province such as the old N. W. F. P. would upon the integration, and in consequence of the order that posts of Conservator of Forests should be filled on an All‑West Pakistan basis, become entitled to be considered on their merits for promotion to fill one of a much larger number of such posts than might have pre viously been available to them. We have been told that there is no complaint by the petitioners that they were placed in the seniority list below any person with a shorter length of service in their own class, so that upon the integration they were not denied the places in the integrated service to which the length and nature of their service prior to the integration entitled them. The order that the posts of Conservator of Forests would be filled on an All‑West Pakistan basis was clearly appropriate in the interests of good administration, for the maintenance of overall control over the management of the forests. It is plainly a necessary requirement of good administration that officers in the higher grades of service, where the likelihood of their being raised to the top position begins to appear, should not be selected on a narrow basis of district or region, but on a provincial basis so that they bring to their duties an approach and attitude which is not coloured by local or sectional interests, but is based upon knowledge and experience of the Province as a whole. It is undeniable that an order of this kind was fully within the powers of the Government to make. What the learned Judges of the High Court have done in this case is to regionalize one appointment of Conservator of Forests, and that is what exactly the orders of the 25th November 1955 were designed to prevent. We may here usefully reproduce the provision relating to posts below the highest post. It is contained in paragraph 4 of the letter of the Chief Secretary No. 871‑Integ‑55/4471, dated the 25th November 1955 and reads as follows :‑ "As regards the Subordinate Services . . . . . it has been decid ed that they should as a rule be constituted on a district or regional basis ; the regions will correspond generally with the jurisdiction of the regional heads including the Com missioners". It is quite evident that the direction which is now appealed against has produced the result of regionalizing this superior post, which on considerations of efficiency and preservation of the public interest would clearly require to be treated as a Provincial post. At the same time in paragraph 8 of the Chief Secretary's letter, it was clearly laid down that while dealing with integration of pre‑unification services, "promotion prospects of existing personnel should be safeguarded so far as possible", which should be, in the circumstances, a sufficient check against gross inequalities in promotions. It is plain that the direction issued by the High Court cannot be maintained. Firstly, it bears no relation to any prayer contained in the petition. Secondly, the view of the learned Judges that after the integration, pre‑unification officers carried with them exactly the same prospects of promotion as they enjoyed prior to the integration is one which has been examined in a number of earlier cases by this Court, and found to be fallacious. We may refer hear to the following cases, namely, The Government of West Pakistan v. Fida Muhammad Khan (P L D 1960 S C (Pak.) 45=(1959) 2 P S C R 187) and Government of West Pakistan v. Fatehullah Khan (P L D 1960 S C (Pak.) 105=(1960) 2 P S C R 192), which were followed in a very recent case, namely, West Pakistan Province v. Qureshi (P L D 1962 S C 428). In each of these cases it was held that the guarantee as to "terms and conditions" enjoyed before the integration must be under stood in a narrow and limited sense so as to refer to concrete matters such as the actual post occupied, actual salary enjoyed and the same age of superannuation as before the integration, but to assure the same " prospects of promotion" was an impossible task in view of the great change in the circum stances brought about by the integration and the great variety of factors bearing upon the grant of promotion to an individual officer and it was held by this Court that such a guarantee could not be thought to have been assured by the relevant instruments. It is clear that the direction issued by the learned Judges cannot be maintained, and we accordingly allow this appeal and direct that the writ or direction issued by the High Court should be recalled. We make no order as to costs. K. B. A. Appeal accepted.