ivil Appeal No 1387 of 1987
From the Judgment and Order dated 2591986 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in CW Appeal No 1027 of 1986
AK Sen K Srinivasamurthy and Kailash Vasdev for the Appellants
MK Ramamurthi and MA Krishna Murthy for the Re spondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by VENKATARAMIAH J
The State Bank of India and two of its officers have filed this appeal by special leave against the judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Writ Appeal No 1027 of 1986 dated 2591986 affirming the judgment dated 283
1986 of the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition No 5133 of 1984 issuing a direction to the appellants to promote the respondent Mohd Mynuddin to the Middle Management Grade Scale III
The respondent who was holding the post of the Manager SIB Division State Bank of India Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh which was a post in Middle Management Grade Scale II filed the above writ petition before the High Court in the year 1984 complaining that he had been wrongly denied promotion to the Middle Management Grade Scale III along with some others who belonged to his batch 535 without any reasonable ground even though he was fully eligible for such promotion
On the above basis he prayed for the issue of a direction to the management to promote him to the higher post with effect from 1979
According to the appellants his case was not considered in the year 1979 on account of inadequacy of material regarding his eligibil ity but when it was brought to the notice of the management that he had necessary eligibility for the post his case was considered in 1982 for the vacancies of 1980 and 1981 but he was not selected
Again his case for promotion was consid ered on 1381983
Then again he was found not fit for promotion and therefore he was not promoted
The main contention of the respondent before the High Court was that since there were no adverse remarks in any of his confidential reports he should have been promoted to the higher post
The learned Single Judge noticed that in the confidential reports relating to the respondent it had been recorded that his service was satisfactory  in the years 1977 78 1979 80 and 1980 81 and that there were no adverse remarks against the respondent
The learned Single Judge therefore
found that on the material placed before the Court there was nothing which disentitled the respondent to the promotion in question and that the action of the management in not promoting him was arbitrary
The learned Single Judge accordingly allowed the writ petition and issued a direction to the appellants to promote the respond ent to the post of Middle Management Grade Scale III with effect from 18
1979 when his batch mates were promoted and that he should be given all consequential benefits
Ag grieved by the judgment of the learned Single Judge the appellants filed an appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court which as stated earlier
dismissed the appeal affirming the judgment of the learned Single Judge by its order dated 259
against which this appeal by special leave is filed
It is admitted that the posts in the Middle Management Grade Scale III in the State Bank of India are posts to which appointments are made by selection
The State Bank of India stated before the High Court that the promotion to Middle Management Grade Scale I11 posts depended not merely upon the eligibility but on merit and such promotion was accorded only after a proper evaluation of the service records performance appraisal and potentiality of the officer concerned to assume higher responsibilities
The evaluation was done by the Selection Committee
which was expected to go into several aspects including the merits and demerits or all the candidates who were eligible
It was further pleaded that the mere absence of adverse remarks did not entitle an employee to promotion to the next higher 536 grade automatically when promotion was by selection
It was further pleaded that after applying the relevant tests laid down by several circulars issued by the Management embodying the guidelines in respect of the selection of officers for promotion to the Middle Management Grade Scale III it was found from time to time that the respondent was not entitled to be promoted
It was further pleaded before us that in any event the High Court was not right in issuing a direction to the management to promote the respondent to the higher post particularly in the absence of any plea of mala fides
The learned counsel for the appellants however has very fairly stated that even now the management is willing to consider the case of the respondent for promotion on a proper ap praisal of the relevant material by the Selection Committee
Whenever promotion to a higher post is to be made on the basis of merit no officer can claim promotion to the higher post as a matter of right by virtue of seniority alone with effect from the date on which his juniors are promoted
It is not sufficient that in his confidential reports it is recorded that his services are satisfactory 
An officer may be capable of discharging the duties of the post held by him satisfactorily but he may not be fit for the higher post
Before any such promotion can be effected it is the duty of the management to consider the case of the officer concerned on the basis of the relevant materials
If promo tion has been denied arbitrarily or without any reason ordinarily the Court can issue a direction to the management to consider the case of the officer concerned for promotion but it cannot issue a direction to promote the officer concerned to the higher post without giving an opportunity to the management to consider the question of promotion
There is good reason for taking this view
The Court is not by its very nature competent to appreciate the abilities qualities or attributes necessary for the task office or duty of every kind of post in the modern world and it would be hazardous for it to undertake the responsibility of assessing whether a person is fit for being promoted to a higher post which is to be filled up by selection
The duties of such posts may need skills of different kinds scientific technical financial industrial
commer cial administrative educational etc
The methods of evalu ation of the abilities or the competence of persons to be selected for such posts have also become nowadays very much refined and sophisticated and such evaluation should there fore in the public interest ordinarily be left to be done by the individual or a committee consisting of persons who have the knowledge of the requirements of a given post to be nominated by the employer
Of course
the process of selection adopted by them should always be 537 honest and fair
It is only when the process of selection is vitiated on the ground of bias mala fides or any other similar vitiating circumstance other considerations will arise
The nature of the writ that can be issued in cases like the one before us has been considered by this Court in the State of Mysore and Anr
vs Syed Mahmood and Ors
   In that case rule 43b of the Mysore State Civil Services General Recruitment Rules 1957 re quired promotion to be made by selection on the basis of seniority cum merit that is seniority subject to the fit ness of the candidate to discharge the duties of the post from among persons eligible for promotion
While making selections for promotions to the posts of senior statistical assistants from the cadre of junior statistical assistants the State Government did not consider the case of the re spondents therein who were junior statistical assistants and published a list promoting persons ranking below them in point of seniority
The respondents therein filed writ petition before the High Court
The High Court while refus ing to quash the seniority list directed the appellant State to promote the respondents as from the dates on which their juniors were promoted and treat their promotion as effective from that date
In the appeal filed against the judgment of the High Court this Court observed that while making selec tions for promotion to the posts of senior statistical assistants from the cadre of junior statistical assistants in 1959 the State Government was under a duty to consider whether having regard to their seniority and fitness they should be promoted
Since the promotions were irregularly made the respondents therein were entitled to ask the State Government to reconsider their case
In the circumstances
this Court observed that the High Court could only issue a writ to the State Government compelling it to perform its duty and to consider whether having regard to their seniori ty and fitness the respondents should have been promoted on the relevant dates when officers junior to them were promot ed and that instead of issuing such a writ the High Court had wrongly issued a writ directing the State Government to promote them with retrospective effect
This Court further observed that the High Court ought not to have issued such a writ without giving the State Government an opportunity in the first instance to consider their fitness for promotion in 1959
The ratio of the above decision is that where the State Government or a statutory authority is under an obli gation to promote an employee to a higher post which has to be filled up by selection the State Government or the statu tory authority alone should be directed to consider the question whether the employee is entitled to be so promoted and that the Court should not ordinarily issue a writ to the Government or the statutory authority to promote an officer straightaway
The principle enunciated in the above decision 538 is equally applicable to the case on hand
It is seen that the Selection Committee constituted by the State Bank of India has considered the case of the respondent for promotion to the vacancies of the years 1980 and 1981 and for the subsequent period from time to time
The Selection Committee did not find the respondent fit for promotion on all such occasions
There is no allegation of bias or mala fides urged against the members of the Selec tion Committee or the management
On the material placed before us we hold that at all relevant times the case of the promotion of respondent has been considered in accordance with law
No other contention is urged before us
On the facts and in the circumstances of the case we do not find any error committed by the appellants
The High Court was not
therefore right in directing the appellants to promote the respondent with effect from 1979
As mentioned earlier
the learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that the Selection Committee constituted by the appellants would again consider the case of the respondent for promotion on a proper appraisal of the relevant material
In the circumstances we feel that the direction issued by the High Court should be set aside and we accordingly do so
The appellants are however directed to consider the case of the respondent for promotion within four months from today and if on an assessment of the relevant material the State Bank of India finds that the respondent is fit to be promoted he shall be promoted forthwith
This appeal is accordingly disposed of
There will
however be no order as to costs
PSS Appeal allowed


Summary:
The respondent holding a Middle Management Grade Scale II post in the appellant Bank was found not fit for promo tion to Grade Scale III by the Selection Committee in the year 1979 and superseded
His case was again considered in the years 1980 1981 and 1983 but denied promotion
He filed a writ petition in the High Court in 1984 for the issue of a direction to the management to promote him to the higher post with effect from 1979 with the assertion that he was fully eligible for such promotion
The Single Judge noticed that in respondent s confiden tial reports for the years 1977 78 1979 80 and 1980 81 it had been recorded that his service was satisfactory  and that there were no adverse remarks against him
He there fore took the view that there was nothing which disentitled the respondent to promotion and that the action of the management in not promoting him was arbitrary and accord ingly issued a direction to the appellants to promote the respondent with effect from 181979 when his batch mates were promoted
The Division Bench dismissed the appeal filed by the appellants
In this appeal by special leave it was contended for the appellants that the promotion to Middle Management Grade Scale III posts depended not merely upon the eligibility but on merit and such promotion was accorded only after a proper evaluation by the Selection Committee of the service re cords performance appraisal and potentiality of the officer concerned to assume higher responsibilities that the mere 533 absence of adverse remarks did not entitle an employee to promotion to the next higher grade automatically when promo tion was by selection
that after applying the relevant tests laid down by the management for promotion to the Middle Management Grade Scale III it was found from time to time that the respondent was not entitled to be promoted and that in any event the High Court was not right in issu ing a direction to the management to promote the respondent to the higher post particularly in the absence of any plea of mala fides
Allowing the appeal HELD The High Court was not right in directing the appellants to promote the respondent to the Middle Manage ment Grade Scale 111 with effect from 1979
538C If promotion has been denied arbitrarily or without any reason ordinarily the Court can issue a direction to the management to consider the case of the officer concerned for promotion but it cannot issue a direction to promote the officer concerned to the higher post without giving an opportunity to the management to consider the question of promotion
This is because the Court is not by its very nature competent to appreciate the abilities qualities or attributes necessary for the task office or duty of every kind of post which is to be filled up by selection
The duties of such posts may need skills of different kinds scientific
technical financial industrial commercial administrative educational etc
The evaluation of the abilities should therefore in the public interest ordi narily be left to be done by the individual or a committee consisting of persons who have the knowledge of the require ments of a given post
536E H Whenever promotion to a higher post is to be made on the basis of merit no officer can claim promotion to the higher post as a matter of right by virtue of seniority alone with effect from the date on which his juniors are promoted
It is not sufficient that in his confidential reports it is recorded that his services are satisfactory 
An officer may be capable of discharging the duties of the post held by him satisfactorily but he may not be fit for the higher post
Before any such promotion can be effected it is the duty of the management to consider the case of the officer concerned on the basis of the relevant materials
Of course the process of selection adopted by them should always he honest and fair
It is only when the process of selection is vitiated on the ground of bias mala fides or any other similar vitiating circumstances other considerations will arise
536C E H 537A 534 State of Mysore and Anr
vs Syed Mohmood and ors
 19683 SCR 363 applied
In the instant case at all relevant times the case of the promotion of respondent has been considered in accord ance with law by the selection committee constituted by the appellant Bank and it did not find him fit for promotion on all such occasions
There is no allegation of bias or mala fides urged against the members of the selection committee or the management
The appellants therefore cannot be said to have committed any error is not promoting the respondent 538B C The appellants are directed to consider the case of the respondent for promotion within four months from the date of the judgment
and if found fit to promote him forthwith
538E