IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition (S/S) No. 1095 of 2011 Rajendra Kumar Saxena ……….Petitioner. Versus State of Uttarakhand and others …….Respondents Present : Mr. Manoj Mohan, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. N.P. Sah, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand. Hon’ble Sudhanshu Dhulia, J. (oral) Heard Mr. Manoj Mohan, Advocate for the petitioner and Mr. N.P. Sah, Standing Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand. The petitioner is an Administrative Officer. Since the petitioner was denied promotion to the post of Senior Administrative Officer and the Administrative Officers much junior to the petitioner have been promoted to the post of Senior Administrative Officer vide order dated 2.7.2011 (Annexure No. 6 to the writ petition), the petitioner is aggrieved and has filed the present writ petition claiming the following relief :- “(i). Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari to quash the order dated 8.12.2009 issued by the respondent no. 2 in so far as it relates to the petitioner. (ii). Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents to grant promotion to the petitioners on the post of Senior Administrative Officer from the date when juniors to them were promoted. (iii) Any other writ, order or direction which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case. (iv) Award the cost of the petition in favour of the petitioner.” Admittedly the promotion from the post of Administrative Officer to the post of Senior Administrative Officer depends upon seniority subject to 2 rejection on unfit. The case of the petitioner is squarely covered by the decision of this Court dated 29.6.2011 passed in Writ Petition No. 1152 of 2010 (Pramod Kumar Shah and others v. State of Uttarakhand and others) The present petitioner is similarly placed as the petitioner in above writ petition, where the petitioner has declined promotion only twice. The fact of the matter is that at the relevant time the petitioner could decline promotion for a maximum of three times as per the Government Order dated 3.7.3007. Therefore, superseding the petitioner on the assumption that the petitioner has already declined the promotion twice in view of the subsequent Government Order dated 10.6.2009, whereby one can decline promotions only “twice”, would not be correct. The writ petition is allowed. Order dated 8.12.2009, as far as it relates to the present petitioner is hereby quashed. The respondents are directed to consider the promotion of the petitioner from the post of Administrative Officer to the post of Senior Administrative Officer, as has been done regarding their juniors vide order dated 2.7.2010. In case there is nothing against the petitioner, the petitioner is liable to be promoted from the date his juniors, as referred above, have been promoted. The authority concerned shall consider all the aspects and pass appropriate order. No order as to costs. (Sudhanshu Dhulia, J.) 26.8.2011 Avneet