Position Of A Civil Servant Not Of Privilege, But Means To Serve Public: P&H HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently stated that the position of civil servant is not one of privilege, but rather one of service to the public.

“It is well known that only a fortunate few have the opportunity to serve the state as an employee. Among those few, some have the privilege to serve the public….The government officers and civil servants, who hold the decision-making powers, are expected to address the grievances of the people, who face unfortunate and unjust circumstances. Without this intent, cases like the present one will continue to come before the courts. It is reasonable to expect that one day a better sense of duty would prevail and grievances of the public will be addressed at the outset,” the order stated.

The observation was made by a single bench of Justice Anil Kshetarpal in an order on a petition seeking quashing of an order dated 23.02.2023 issued by the Director, Public Instruction (Secondary Education), Punjab.

Ankit, the petitioner, was directly hired as a Mathematics Master in 2021. After receiving permission from the appropriate authorities, he applied for the position of Assistant Professor (Colleges) in response to the government recruitment notice issued on October 19, 2021.He was selected for the said post. Following that, on December 3, 2021, he was also issued an appointment letter, hence he submitted his resignation letter from the position of Mathematics Master.

Meanwhile, because the Court issued an interim order, the appointment order to the position of Assistant Professor was stayed. As a result, in a letter dated 10.12.2021, the petitioner requested that the resignation letter be withdrawn. Since then, he has been running from pillar to post in order to have his resignation letter withdrawn. He then filed a writ petition, which was dismissed with the respondents directed to make a reasoned decision.

The Director, Public Instruction, declined the request of the petitioner for withdrawal of his resignation letter.

The petitioner contended that the rule did not apply to his case because it referred to a situation in which a Government employee resigned from his position or service in order to accept an appointment in a private commercial company, corporation, or a government-owned or controlled company, or in a government-controlled or financed organization. He claimed that he applied for the position in response to a recruitment notice issued by the Punjab Government.