IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.12655 of 2009 Deo Baran Singh, son of Late Ram Subhag Singh, at present residing at Oriental Insurance Colony, Mahatma Gandhi Nagar, P.S.-Kankarbagh, Town & District-Patna. -Petitioner. VERSUS 1. The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. through its Chairman-cum- Managing Director, Oriental House, A-25/27 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi- 110002. 2. The Assistant General Manager & the Appointing Authority for Promotion, the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., Oriental House, A-25/27 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002. 3. The Deputy General Manager (P), the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., Oriental House, A-25/27 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002. -Respondents. ----------- 02 06.10.2009 The petitioner was an employee of the Oriental Insurance Company Limited and retired on 31.12.2003 from the post of Administrative Officer in the Regional Office at Patna. For quite sometime he has been agitating to the organization regarding denial of promotion to him. At the verge of retirement he filed C.W.J.C. No.7175 of 2002 for a direction to the organization to consider him for promotion. The said writ petition was ultimately disposed of on 06.02.2009, directing the respondents to consider the petitioner’s claim and giving effect to award if he was liable to be permitted. Petitioner thereafter filed a detailed representation claiming on basis of seniority- cum-merit but the same has been rejected by the communication dated 05.05.2009 (Annexure-5), wherein detailed reasons have been given. On behalf of the petitioner, it is submitted that the criteria for promotion being seniority-cum-merit the marks system evolved by the - 2 - organization is not valid. In their communication impugned (Annexure- 5) the organization has categorically stated that at various times petitioner was duly considered for promotion but could not given promotion as to promotional posts were limited and he could not make the remarks. Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner at length, in my view, the writ petition cannot succeed. Firstly, the promotion is to be granted on seniority-cum-merit. Learned counsel for the petitioner is right in contending that in a promotion based on seniority-cum-merit, seniority has to be given primacy. In my view, that does not go to the extent of reading seniority de hors merit. The concept is seniority-cum- merit and not seniority de hors merit. Where there are no statutory rules prescribing how this criteria has to be applied it is always open to the organization to formulate policies of award of marks regarding different criteria and also taking into account merit, that has been done. I am fortified by a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of K. Samantaray Vs. National Insurance Company Limited since reported in (2004)9 Supreme Court Cases 286, wherein similar circumstances were being considered. The Apex Court held that no one has a right to be permitted but only a right to be considered for promotion and then it has elaborately discussed the concept of seniority-cum-merit promotions and merit-cum-seniority promotions as also the hybrid mode of granting promotion. It has been clearly held that in absence of statutory rule organization is competent to formulate policies to give effect to such a criteria giving due weightage to seniority but not ignoring the merit at - 3 - the same time the said decision has taken into consideration. The Apex Court has also considered the case of Umesh Chand Pandya Vs. New India Assurance Company and other similar cases. In view of the aforesaid, in my view, the writ petition cannot succeed and must be dismissed as such. Trivedi/ (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)