Jammu, Sep. 12: In SWP No. 980/2010 1. Union of India th. Secretary to Government of India, Minister of communication, Department of Posts, Sansad Marg, New Delhi. & ors V/s 1. Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh 2. Romesh Chander son of Shri Ram Krishan, Jr.Accountant, Office of Director, Postal Accounts, J&K Circle, Jammu 3. Sh. Vinod Kumar Bhat Jr. Accountant, Office of Director, Postal Accounts, J&K Circle Jammu after hearing a DB of HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV KUMAR, JUDGE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAHUL BHARTI, JUDGE ordered as:-
Sanjeev Kumar, J. SWP No. 980/2010 1 Union of India and the Department of Posts are the writ petitioners who have filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of certiorari to quash and set aside judgment dated 17.09.2009 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench [„the Tribunal‟] in OA No. 18-JK of 2007 titled „Romesh Chander vs Union of India and others, whereby the Tribunal has allowed the OA filed by the 2respondent No.2 herein and quashed the Gradation List with a direction to the petitioners herein to draw the same afresh while giving seniority to the incumbents as Jr. Accountants from the date of qualifying confirmatory examinations as per their merit in the said examinations.
The respondent No.2, the applicant before the Tribunal, has also been held entitled to notional benefits from the date his juniors were given such benefits including the benefit of promotion to the post of Sr. Accountant with all consequential benefits.
2 Before we advert to the grounds of challenge urged by Mr. Sandeep Gupta, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, it would be appropriate to take note of few material facts relevant to the disposal of this petition.
3 The respondent No.2 joined his service as Postal Assistant in the Department of Posts on 27.07.1995. In the year 2001, the erstwhile Postal Accounts Office, Kapurthala was bifurcated and a new Postal Accounts Office was created at Jammu. The Department of Posts evolved a criteria for filling up the posts/vacancies of Jr. Accountants/Sr. Accountants in the newly created postal Accounts Office at Jammu. The minimum qualification for the posts aforesaid was prescribed as Graduation. In-service Postal Assistants were called upon by the Circle Office, Jammu to submit their applications for their permanent absorption as Jr. Accountants in Postal Accounts Office, Jammu.
4. Respondent No.2, who was working as Postal Assistant in Udhampur Division, also applied for such permanent absorption in the Postal Accounts Office, Jammu and made a declaration to the effect that he was willing to be transferred and posted as Jr. Accountant in the newly created Postal Accounts Office, Jammu as per the terms and conditions laid down in the GPMG, J&K Circle, Jammu‟s Memo dated 01.05.2001.
Aggrieved by the permanent absorption of the respondent No.3 Sh. Vinod Kumar Bhat as Jr. Accountant in the Postal Accounts Office, Jammu, the respondent No.2 herein filed OA No. 362-JK/2003 and assailed the permanent absorption/appointment of the respondent No.3 and one Smt. Archana Gupta as Jr. Accountants in Postal Accounts Office, Jammu. Said OA was allowed by the Tribunal vide its judgment dated 23.03.2004 with a direction to the petitioners herein/Postal Authorities to reconsider the entire matter of selecting persons from the optees for their permanent absorption in Postal Accounts Office, Jammu as per Annexure-A dated 01.05.2001 strictly.
The petitioners/Postal Authorities were also directed to consider the case of respondent No.2 herein (applicant before the Tribunal) along with others after deciding about the criteria or by laying down some norms for such selection of permanent absorption as per Annexure-A.
6. In compliance to the aforesaid judgment passed by the Tribunal, the Postal Authorities reconsidered the entire matter of selection of the Jr. Accountants and found respondent the No.2 herein eligible and entitled to be positioned/appointed as Jr. Accountant in the newly created office of Postal Accounts at Jammu.
7. It was the stand of the Postal Authorities that from the Postal Division Udhampur initially five officials were permitted to join the Postal Accounts Office, Jammu, namely Sh. Hem Raj Sharma, Sh. Arvind Bhat, Sh. Vinod Kumar Bhat, Smt. Archana Gupta and Sh. Dheeraj Kumar. All of them had joined as Jr. Accountants in the Postal Accounts Office, Jammu on 22.11.2002, 22.11.2002, 22.11.2002, 18.11.2002 and 27.09.2003 respectively.
8. When the matter was considered in compliance with the directions of the Tribunal, it was found that Smt. Archana Gupta and 4Sh. Dhiraj Kumar were not falling in the reconstituted criteria, as such, they were repatriated to their parent Divisions against their substantive posts. Smt. Archana Gupta and Sh. Dhiraj Kumar had also approached the Tribunal by way of two separate OAs and the Tribunal was pleased to direct maintenance of status quo with respect to their placement by passing an interim order dated 22.11.2004.
9 It is the case of the petitioners that because of the aforesaid stay granted by the Tribunal, the order of appointment of the respondent No.2 could not be issued. In the meanwhile, one Daya Ram, Sr. Accountant retired on 30.11.2004 and the post fell vacant. Respondent No.2 could not be accommodated because of the instructions of the Directorate issued on 04.07.2001. Only 1/3rd of the posts could be filled up against the vacancies created due to retirement.
10 It seems that when the judgment passed by the Tribunal in favour of respondent No.2 was not getting implemented, a contempt petition came to be filed before the Tribunal. Pursuant to the directions passed by the Tribunal in the said contempt petition on 01.06.2005, the respondent No.2 was ultimately appointed as Jr. Accountant in the office of DAP, Jammu against available post vide order/memo dated 29.06.2005. The respondent No.2 joined as Jr. Accountant on 01.07.2005. He was though ultimately appointed as Jr. Accountant in terms of order dated 29.06.2005, yet he felt dissatisfied in respect of his seniority position vis-à-vis his junior respondent No.3 herein namely Vinod Kumar Bhat.
11. The respondent No.2, thus, filed OA 18/JK/2007 which was contested by the respondents. The Tribunal considered the entire matter in extenso and came to the conclusion that the petitioners had not followed the 5mandate of judgment passed by the Tribunal in OA No. 362/JK/03 and have not conducted the entire exercise afresh by laying down the criteria and norms for permanent absorption as per Annexure-A of the circular dated 01.05.2001.
The Tribunal found the Gradation List so prepared without adhering to the directions passed by the Tribunal was bad in the eye of law. It is, in these circumstances, that the OA filed by the respondent No.2 was allowed and Gradation List was quashed and a consequent direction was issued to the writ petitioners herein to draw up the Gradation List afresh while giving seniority to the incumbents as Jr. Accountants from the date of qualifying confirmatory examinations as per their merit in the said examinations.
12. It is this judgment dated 17.11.2009 of the Tribunal which is being called in question by the petitioners herein on multiple grounds.
13 It is contended by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners that the respondent No.2 could not be permanently absorbed as Jr. Accountant along with the respondent No.3 and few others for the reason that, though respondent No.2 had given his option for such absorption, but he was not relieved/spared by his Postal Division, Udhampur.
It is only in pursuance of the directions passed by the Tribunal while disposing of OA No. 362-JK of 2003 that the case of respondent No.2 was re-examined to found him entitled to be appointed as Jr. Accountant in the newly created wing of Postal Accounts at Jammu. Respondent No.2 could not be accommodated immediately because of non-availability of the vacancy.
Two persons, namely Smt. Archana Gupta and Sh. Dhiraj Kumar who, on reexamination, were not found falling within the reconstituted criteria, were directed to be repatriated. However, due to the intervention made by the Tribunal, their repatriation could not be given effect to, it was in these circumstances that the absorption of the respondent No.2 was 6delayed. It is, thus, argued that, having regard to the date of absorption of respondent No.2 which is later in point of time than that of the respondent No.3, the respondent No.2 was placed in the Gradation List at appropriate place and, of course, below respondent No.3.
14 Having heard learned counsel for the petitioners and perused the material on record, we are of the considered view that the judgment passed by the Tribunal falls strictly within the four corners of law and, therefore, unquestionable on any grounds whatsoever.............................
25 For the foregoing reasons, we find no merit in this petition.
The judgment passed by the Tribunal impugned in this petition is upheld. We, however, would like to put the directions issued by the Tribunal in proper perspective so that there is no confusion to anybody in the matter of their implementation.
11 (i) The Gradation list/seniority list of the Postal Assistants absorbed as Jr. Accountants in Postal Accounts wing (Annexure A9 with the OA) shall stand quashed;
(ii) There shall be a direction to the petitioners herein to draw it afresh by reckoning the seniority of absorved Jr. Accountants as per the merit obtained in the qualifying confirmatory examination;
(iii) The respondent No.2 shall be deemed to have been absorbed along with the respondent No.3 notionally with all consequential monetary benefits.
(iv) The respondent No.2 shall be considered for his promotion to the post of Sr. Accountant at par with his juniors, if any, so considered against the prescribed ratio of 80:20, provided he is found otherwise fit and eligible.
The directions aforesaid shall be complied with by the petitioners within a period of three months from today. Disposed of accordingly.
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