THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.G.SHANKAR WRIT PETITION NO.3829 OF 2001 ORDER: {Per the Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed} The petitioners filed this Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, seeking to assail the order dated 01.11.2000 passed in O.A.No.16 of 2000 on the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad Bench, Hyderabad {“the Tribunal” for brevity}, whereby, the Tribunal while disposing of the O.A., set aside the impugned letter dated 14.12.1999 and directed the petitioners herein to follow the recruitment rules as per SRO 14E dated 04.05.1989 for promotion and transfers. The facts of the case, in brief, are that the respondents were working in the grade of Personal Assistants-II in the third petitioner- Factory and they were initially appointed as Stenographers in the pay scale of Rs.1200 – 2040 in the years 1984-86. According to the Recruitment Rules, Entry Grade is called Stenographer Grade III in the Ordnance Factory Organization in the scale of Rs.1200 – 2040. It is stated that promotion line of Stenographers in the Ordnance Factory Organization is to (a) Personal Assistant (Stenographer/Stenographer Grade II), (b) Sr. P.A. (Stenographer Grade I Junior Scale) and (c) Sr. P.A. (Stenographer Grade I Senior Scale). It is also submitted that the post of P.A. is filled on the basis of the seniority within a factory and at the factory level, however, on promotion as P.A., a person is liable for transfer any where in India and his name is included in the seniority list of P.A. on all India basis from the date of promotion to the post of P.A. It is further stated that the post of Sr. P.A. is centrally controlled post and is being filled up by promotion on all India seniority of Personal assistants by the second appellant herein viz., the Ordnance Factory Board and that the Fifth Pay Commission recommended for restructure of three grades of stenographers in the ratio of 40: 40: 20. The Government of India accepted the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission and issued O.M.No.11 (4)/99/D(civ.I) dated 14.09.1999 and on the basis of the said O.M., the Ordnance Factory Board issued the impugned letter dated 14.12.1999, wherein it was stated that the post of PA-I shall be Factory based and filled up at the factory level by holding D.P.C. SRO for PA-I will be issued in due course and till that time, PA-II with three years service will be eligible for promotion to PA- I. Aggrieved by the order dated 14.09.1999, the respondents herein filed the O.A. to set aside the said order and for consequential direction to the petitioners herein to regulate promotions to the post of Sr. P.A. (Junior scale) based on the seniority list P.A. dated 01.01.1997 on All India basis with all consequential benefits. The Tribunal, taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, disposed of the O.A. by setting aside the impugned letter dated 14.12.1999 and directed the petitioners herein to follow the recruitment rules as per SRO.No.14 E dated 04.05.1989 for promotion and transfers. Aggrieved by the same, the present Writ Petition is filed. The learned standing Counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that prior to introduction of the three tier structure, the erstwhile grade of PA was treated as a centrally controlled post and promotions were made by the Ordnance Factory Board, Calcutta (petitioner No.2). However, since the total sanctioned strength of Stenographers and PA for each factory was restructured in the ratio of 40: 40: 20 in accordance with the recommendation of the Vth Central Pay Commission and accepted by Government of India, it became necessary to treat this cadre as a Unit based post, similar to equivalent categories of posts in other cadres. It is further submitted that the posts at the lower range of hierarchy in the Stenographer cadre have been surrendered for creation of the post of PA-I and if the post of PA-I is treated as a centrally controlled post, it will lead to transfer of PA-I from one Ordnance Factory to another where vacancies may exist and in this process the Unit based sanctioned strength is bound to get imbalanced. In these circumstances the restructured cadre of Stenographers is necessarily to be treated as Unit based post. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the respondents submits that the order passed by the Tribunal is quite reasonable and there are no grounds to interfere with the same. Heard the learned counsel appearing for both the sides and also perused the material made available on record. As seen from the record, the Ordnance Factory was having a sanctioned strength of 16 Stenographers and 8 PAs totalling 24. On the basis of the restructuring of the Stenographers cadre in accordance with OM dated 14.09.1999, the sanctioned strength of 24 Stenographers/PA for the factory has been restructured by the second respondent therein in the ratio of 40: 40: 20. They stated that prior to introduction of the 3 tier structure, the erstwhile grade of PA was treated as a centrally controlled post. Since the total sanctioned strength of stenographers and PA for each factory have been restructured in the ratio of 40: 40: 20, it has become necessary to treat this cadre as a unit-based post. It is also on record that the SRO for PA-I has not yet been issued by the Ministry of Defence and is expected to be issued shortly and pending issue of the SRO, administrative instructions have been issued by the Ordnance Factory Board by the impugned letter dated 14.12.1999 to fill up the vacancies in the grade of PA w.e.f. 10.01.2000 by holding DPCs at Factory level and promoting PA-II with minimum three years regular service and relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in State Bank of India v. Yogendra Kumar Srivastava[1]. Be that as it may, the post of PA is a centrally controlled post and that the respondents herein are eligible for promotion on the basis of the seniority list dated 01.01.1997. But the petitioners herein have not stated whether they have issued any subsequent seniority list. In that view of the matter the Tribunal rightly observed that if the petitioners want to create such posts they are required to amend the recruitment rules and till the amendment is issued by the competent authority the petitioners cannot bifurcate the posts of PAs into PA-I and II as they have done by the impugned letter dated 14.12.1999 and accordingly, set aside the same. In view of the above, we see no infirmity or illegality in the order dated 01.11.2000 passed by the Tribunal and the Writ Petition is liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. _____________________ (GHULAM MOHAMMED, J) _______________ (K.G.SHANKAR, J) 21st July 2011 RRB [1] (1987) 3 SCC 10