CWP No.11710 of 2005 (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.11710 of 2005 Date of Decision: 24.3.2008 No. Ex JC 240843 A N/ Risaldar Shiv Singh ....Petitioner Versus Union of India and others .....Respondents Coram: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MOHINDER PAL Present: Shri Rajinder Kumar, Advocate, for the petitioner. Shri Rajiv Malhotra, Advocate, for respondent Nos. 1 to 6. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? HEMANT GUPTA, J. The petitioner has invoked the writ jurisdiction of this Court claiming promotion to the post of Risaldar for the reason that juniors to him have been promoted as Risaldar but such promotion has not been granted to the petitioner. It is the case of the petitioner that he was enrolled in the Armoured Corp on 8.11.1976 and after successful training he was attested as Sawar. He qualified all the tests and was eligible for being promoted to the rank of Naib Risaldar, but was not promoted, which has led to the filing of the Writ Petition No. 6437 of 2003 before this Court. In the said writ petition, counsel for the respondents made a statement that the case of the petitioner for promotion to the post of Naib Risaldar shall be considered CWP No.11710 of 2005 (2) within six weeks. In view of the said statement, the writ petition was disposed of. Consequent to the statement made before this Court, the petitioner was promoted as Naib Risaldar on 16.8.2004 but with effect from 1.10.1999. Prior to 16.8.2004, juniors to the petitioners, namely, respondent Nos. 7 to 12 were promoted as Risaldar. Thus, the petitioner claims that he should have been granted promotion as Risaldar as well. In the reply filed on behalf of the respondents, it has been pointed out that the petitioner could not be promoted as he was not meeting the ACR criteria as per Clause (6) (c) of the Army Headquarters letter dated 10.10.1997. As per the said criteria, the petitioner was required to earn two Regiment Reports, whereas he has earned only one Regiment Report in the year 1995. It has also been pointed out that apart from the lack of Regiment Reports, the petitioner was also lacking in the promotion test i.e. Junior Leader Proficiency Test, which is the pre-requisite for promotion to the post of Risaldar. In view of the said fact, it was alleged that the petitioner is not entitled to be promoted as Risaldar from the date his juniors were promoted. It has come on record that as Naib Risaldar, the petitioner attained the age of superannuation on 30.11.2004, but had be been promoted as Risaldar,, he would have got another two years. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and from the perusal of the record, it is apparent that the petitioner was entitled to be promoted as Naib Risaldar, but was denied such promotion for the reasons which were not attributable to the petitioner. It was only on 16.8.2004, the petitioner was promoted as Naib Risaldar but with effect from 1.10.1999. Therefore, the non recording of ACRs in the rank of Naib Risaldar was not an action of the petitioner or the deficiency on the part of the petitioner CWP No.11710 of 2005 (3) which could be taken into consideration for denying promotion to the petitioner as Risaldar. Similarly, the fact that the petitioner has not qualified the Junior Leader Proficiency Test, is again not tenable for the reasons that soon after the petitioner was granted promotion as Naib Risaldar, he attained the age of superannuation and retired on 30.11.2004. There was no opportunity for the petitioner to appear in the test. It is not the case of the respondents that the petitioner was asked to appear in the Junior Leader Proficiency Test, which the petitioner failed to clear. In view of the above, the denial of promotion to the petitioner to the post of Risaldar is wholly unjustified, when the juniors to the petitioner have been promoted to the post of Risaldar. Consequently, the present writ petition is allowed. The respondents are directed to consider the petitioner for promotion to the Rank of Risaldar without taking into consideration Junior Leader Proficiency Test or the Regiment Reports. Needful be done within a period of four months from the date copy of the order is served upon the respondents. (HEMANT GUPTA) JUDGE (MOHINDER PAL) JUDGE 24.3.2008 ds