Punjab and Haryana High Court: A 2-Judge Bench comprising of Mahesh Grover and Rajbir Sehrawat, JJ., addressed a petition filed against an order passed by Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh where an Original Application filed by petitioner was dismissed and his prayer for re-consideration of his suitability for the Select List for promotion to the post of IAS was rejected.
Facts of the case were such that the petitioner had joined State Civil Service in 1994. According to the Indian Administrative Service (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955, a select list for promotion of IAS had to be prepared every year but for 2011 the select list was not created. When in 2015 the select list was created, petitioner’s name was 10th in the list but he was not considered for promotion. It is to be noted that a candidate who had expired was also considered for promotion and for the same petitioner had filed a representation before the respondents which was rejected.
Petitioner while contending brought before the Court the fact that his grade was ‘outstanding’ but the same was downgraded to be ‘very good’ and this downgrading of petitioner was arbitrary. Whereas respondent negated the jurisdiction of this Court by stating the decisions of Select Committee as sacrosanct which the court or tribunal has no authority to question and would not come under judicial review. It is upon the Select Committee as to how to make a selection and they can give their own grades not necessarily the grades given by ACRs.
The High Court after perusing provisions of the rules, regulations and the guidelines governing the appointment and the assessment for appointment was of the view that guidelines stated that reasons are mandatory to be recorded when the candidate is considered in a subsequent year with the difference in assessment from the previous year. Court had rejected the contentions of respondents and observed the assessment was devoid of rationality and was arbitrary. Therefore, this petition was allowed and the Tribunal’s order was set aside. [Satya Pal Arora v. CAT,2018 SCC OnLine P&H 1731, decided on 15-02-2018]
