2026:HHC:18169 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA CWP No. 7153 of 2026 Decided on : 19.05.2026 Surender Pal …Petitioner Versus State of Himachal Pradesh and others …Respondents Coram Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge Whether approved for reporting?1 For the petitioner : Mr. Abhinav Purohit, Advocate. For the respondents : Mr. Pushpinder Jaswal, Additional Advocate General and Ms. Leena Guleria, Deputy Advocate General, for respondents No.1 & 2. Mr. Rangil Singh, Advocate, for respondent No.3. Ajay Mohan Goel, Judge (Oral) By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has, inter alia, prayed for the following reliefs:- “i. That the present Civil Writ Petition may kindly be allowed and this Hon'ble Court may kindly issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents to grant the petitioner all the actual consequential & 1Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2 2026:HHC:18169 financial benefits attached to the post of Principal (School Cadre) Class-I (Gazetted) including arrear of pay and allowances w.e.f. the date of joining as Principal (School Cadre) Class-I (Gazetted) on placement basis with the respondent department and further the respondents may be directed to pay an interest on the said arrears at the rate of 9% per annum in the interest of law and justice. ii. That the respondents may kindly be directed to grant the petitioner actual consequential and financial benefits including arrears of pay & pension at par with the similarly situated employees who were granted the same benefits vide notification dated 17.12.2018 and 30.12.2025, for the period the petitioner have worked and served as Principal (School Cadre) Class-I (Gazetted) along-with all the actual consequential and financial benefits in the interest of justice and fair play.” 2. The petitioner contends that in terms of Annexure P- 4, dated 08.05.2025, when he was promoted on regular basis against the post of Principal (School Cadre), said promotion was conferred with immediate effect as from the date of the notification and on notional basis from the date the petitioner assumed the charge of the post of Principal on placement 3 2026:HHC:18169 basis. The grievance of the petitioner is that he has been discriminated by the Department, as in other cases, incumbents similarly situated as the petitioner, were promoted on regular basis from the date they assumed the charge of the post of Principal on placement basis. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the reliefs prayed for the petitioner is otherwise squarely covered by the judgment passed by this Court in CWP No. 9321 of 2025, titled Vijay Parmar and others Vs. State of Himachal Pradesh, decided on 06.04.2026, and the petition be disposed of with the direction that the judgment passed therein shall mutatis mutandis be construed to have been passed in the present petition also. 4. Though the similarity in the issue decided by this Court in Vijay Parmar and others Vs. State of Himachal Pradesh (supra) and the grievance of the petitioner could not be disputed by the learned Additional Advocate General, but he submitted that the order that may be passed by this Court be subject to the legal rights of the respondents to agitate the same. Ordered accordingly. 4 2026:HHC:18169 5. This petition is disposed of by directing that the directions passed in Vijay Parmar and others Vs. State of Himachal Pradesh (supra), shall be construed to have been passed in the present case also mutatis mutandis. It is held that the act of the respondents-State of conferring the promotion to the petitioner in terms of Annexure P-4, dated 08.05.2025 on regular basis with immediate effect and on notional basis from the date he assumed the charge of the post of Principal on placement basis is bad and it is directed that the petitioner shall be conferred the benefit of regularization as was conferred to his counter-parts from the date of assuming the charge of the post i.e. from the actual date of the petitioner joining as Principal on placement basis with all consequential benefits. 6. Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, also stand disposed of accordingly. (Ajay Mohan Goel) Judge May 19, 2026 (Shivank Thakur)