IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.402 of 2009 1. The Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, through its Chairman, Head Office, Bhagalpur 2. The Board of Directors, Bhagalpur, Banka Kshetiya Gramin Bank, 3. The Chairman, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank 4. The Manager, H.R.D.M.P.A.B., Bhagalpur, Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank Now appellants 1 to 4 have been amalgamated in Bihar Kshetriya Gramin Bank w.e.f.12.09.2005…. Appellants Versus 1. Sunil Kumar Verma s/o J. Prasad, resident of Bhagalpur 2. Shashi Kant Pandey s/o late Ramashish pandey, resident of Biro, Bhagalpur 3. Rajesh Kumar Verma s/o late S.K.Verma, resident of Mohalla Purani Sarai, Bhagalpur 4. Rajeev Ranjan s/o C.D.N.V. Verma, resident of Mohall – Lalbagh, Bhagalpur with LPA. No.364 of 2009 1. Bihar Kshetriya Gramim Bank, Munger 2. The Board Directors, Bihar Kshetriya Gramin Bank, having its Head Office at Bhagat Singh Chowk, Munger 3. The Chairman, Bihar Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Munger Vers. 1. Ram Narayan Choudhary s/o Mahendra Choudhary, Radha Rani Sinha Road, Bhagalpur 2. Samuel Besra s/o John Besra, presently posted as Assistant Manager, Bhagalpur Main Branch, Bhgalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Bhagalpur 3. Braj Madhav Kumar s/o late Yadav Chandra Mehra, presently posted in the Accounts Section in Head Office, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank,Bhagalpur 4. Lalit Narayan Mishra, s/o T.N. Mishra presently posted in the Head Office of Bhagalpur Bank, a Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Radha Rani Sinha Road, Bhagalpur 5. Rakesh Kumar s/o Janardan Singh, presently posted in Loan and Advance Section, Head Office, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, 6. Shailendra Kumar s/o Jangi Singh, presently posted in Head Office , Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Bhagalpur 2 7. Ravi Bhushan Verma s/o Ram Jatan Prasad Verma, presently posted in Bhagalpur Banka kshetriya Gramin Bank, Extension Counter, Bhikanpur, Bhagalpur 8. Ashok Kumar Paswan s/o Kedar paswan, presently posted as Assistant Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Banka Branch 9. Rajeev Ranjan, s/o Bijoy Shankar Prasad, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Sultanganj, Bhagalapur 10. Sanjay Kr. Pandey, s/o N.N.Pandey, presently posted as Assistant Manager, Bhagalpur Bank Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Nathnagar Branch, Bhagalpur…… Respondents 1st set 11. Mr. Sujit, s/o Bhola Pd. Rana, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Sultanganj Branch, Banka 12. Mr. Samir kumar s/o Dr. Srideo Mandal, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Bank Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Banka Branch, Banka 13. Mahendra Badal s/o Sri Satish Chandra Rai, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Bank Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Bhagalpur 14. Praveen Kumar Jha, s/o Basuki Nath Jha, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Bank, Panjbara Brnahc, Banka 15. Ravindra Singh Jail s/o late Raj Singh Jain, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Nathnagar Branch, Bhagalpur] 16. Suyas Jayaswal s/o Shambhu Nath Jaiswal, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Amarpur Branch, Banka 17. Rana Ranbir Singh s/o Rana Pd. Singh, presently posted as manager, Bhagalpur Banak Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Punsia Brnach, Banka 18. Vikash kr. Bhagat s/o Mahabir Pd. Bhagat, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank Tilakpur Branch, Tilakpur, Bhagalpur 19. Jyoti Singh s/o late Raj Singh Jain, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Bousi Branch, Banka 20. Pramod Kumar Jaiswal s/o Krishan Nand Choudhary, presently posted as Manager, Bhagalpur Banka Kshetriya Gramin Branch, Naugachia Branch, Bhagalpur 3 21. Ram Khelawan Prasad, s/o Fagu Das, Branch Manager, Bhagalpur Banak Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Jagdishpur Branch, Bhagalpur, ………… Respondents 2nd set. ----------- For the appellant : Mrs. Nilu Agrawal Mr. Zaki Haider, Advocates For the respondents: Mr. Purushottam Kumar Jha, Advocate 4 21/4/2009 Petitioners were working as Officers in the respondent – Bank. In the matter of promotion from Officer Scale – I to Officer Scale – II , petitioners were not promoted and their juniors were promoted by notification dated 8.11.2000. The learned Single Judge found that they are also entitled to be promoted from the date when their juniors were promoted and, accordingly, observed that since the petitioners are willing to accept the notional promotion, they shall not be granted monetary benefits for the earlier period and monetary benefits shall be given to them only after the date of their promotion but calculations shall be made treating them notionally to have been promoted from due date for the purpose of their fixation of pay etc. The notional promotion shall also be counted towards their seniority. Contention of the appellants is that the mode of promotion is seniority cum merit. According to the 4 appellants since marks secured by the petitioners – respondents herein were not of worth promotion, they were not granted promotion. In this connection they referred to the relevant Rules, namely, Regional Rural Bank (Appointment and Promotion of Officers and Other Employees) Rule, 1998, which was notified by the Government of India under Statutory Order No.642-E dated 29th July, 1998. In the light of the said Rule an examination in order to assess the performance in written test of 60 marks, interview of 20 marks and performance appraisal report of 20 marks is conducted and those who secure 40% marks in written become eligible to be called for interview. It is not disputed that petitioners – respondents herein got more than 40% marks in written test though the qualifying marks in written test for interview is only 40%. The said fact can be seen from the list produced by the appellants themselves along with the appeal. If the petitioners secured cut off marks of 40% in written test then the next thing remains to be considered for promotion is the seniority and that has to be looked into as per Rule 1998 which says that promotion is to be 5 given on the basis of seniority cum merit. There is no qualifying marks prescribed either for interview or performance appraisal and to avoid any confusion the Bank itself issued a clarification regarding modalities for promotion as contained in Annexure – 14 of the writ petition, which says that the minimum standard by way of cut off marks for the general category has been fixed as 40 marks and for the reserved category (SC/ST) as 35 marks out of total 100 marks. In the above clarification, it is stated that apart from the minimum eligibility mark of 40% in the written examination, the aggregate marks obtained in the examination and interview on performance appraisal also should be more than 40% for getting promotion. The petitioners have obtained more than 40% marks in the written examination and their aggregate marks are also above 40%. Hence, even if the new clarification rules are applicable, they are entitled to be promoted . Only minimum cut off marks were prescribed for the written examination at the relevant time and they had obtained the said marks. Since the promotion is based on seniority-cum-merit, once they obtained the minimum marks, on the basis of seniority, 6 they are entitled to be promoted. In the aforesaid circumstances of the case, we are of the view that the order of the learned single judge granting promotion to the petitioners from the date when their juniors were granted and their seniority shall be counted from the date of notional promotion does not require for any interference by this court. Appeal stands dismissed.. Neyaz/- (J. B. Koshy, CJ.) (Dr. Ravi Ranjan, J.)