Jammu, Novemver 03: High Court has quashed the promotions of 26 Assistant Secretaries in J&K Board of School Education to the extent it pertains to regularization and promotion of respondents 3 to 28 as Assistant Secretaries with retrospective effect in a petition filed by Ashok Kumar Gandotra and others. 

Justice Tashi Rabstan observed that from perusal of the objections filed by the Board itself reveals that while filling up the posts-in-question, the DPC did not take into consideration the consistently good service record of candidates nor they had taken their personal interviews in terms of Order No.12-B of 1994 dated 07.01.1994, based on Resolution Nos. 12 & 13 dated 16.07.1993. Rather the DPC had changed the criteria on its own to favour the private respondents which is nothing but an arbitrary exercise of powers and against the very spirit of Articles 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India. adding “the Departmental Promotion Committee had no power/jurisdiction to change the criteria which was the prerogative of competent authority. 

Justice Rabstan observed that resolution dated 30.09.2005 regarding relaxation of norms for according promotion to the post of Assistant Secretary on case to case basis is nothing but an intentional loophole and colourable exercise of power for favouring non-deserving candidates by the Board as well as by the authorities sitting at the helm of affairs.

The respondents were directed to consider the petitioners for their promotion to the post of Assistant Secretary from the date they completed seven years of satisfactory service as Section Officers and were designated as Incharge Assistant Secretaries, of course strictly in terms of the seniority lists of Assistant Secretaries and Section Officers