C.W.P. No.9526 of 2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.9526 of 2009 DATE OF DECISION: JULY 03, 2009 Jasmer Singh .....PETITIONER Versus State Bank of India and others ....RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SATISH KUMAR MITTAL --- Present: Mr.G.S. Sandhawalia, Advocate, for the petitioner. .. SATISH KUMAR MITTAL, J. The petitioner is working as Senior Assistant in State Bank of India (hereinafter referred to as `the respondent bank'). At present, his age is about 58 years. He belongs to Scheduled Caste category. The respondent bank vide Circular dated 27.4.2009, copy of which has been annexed as Annexure P1, addressed to all Branches under Administrative Control of Region-I of the respondent bank, sought recommendations of the eligible candidates for promotion from Clerical Cadre to JMGS-I on merit-cum- seniority channels under the New Promotion Policy of the respondent bank circulated vide letter dated 25.4.2009. Under the said Policy, for promotion from Clerical Cadre to JMGS-I, the written examination was to be conducted. Under that policy, the upper age limit for the candidates belonging to General Category was 52 years and for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category, the upper age limit was 57 years. The respondent bank on receiving several C.W.P. No.9526 of 2009 -2- representations from senior employees belonging to General Category, who were keen for promotion to JMGS-I but due to the upper age limit of 52 years, they could not be considered for the said promotion, decided to relax the upper age limit and, accordingly, vide Circular dated 27.5.2009, the upper age limit of the candidates belonging to General Category was increased from 52 to 55 years from the current promotional year 2009-10. It was also decided that since the upper age limit for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category is already 57 years, therefore, there was no need for any change in their upper age limit. The petitioner has challenged the said decision of the respondent bank in the instant petition. The contention of the petitioner is that the upper age limit pertaining to the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category should have also been increased proportionately. According to the petitioner, the upper age limit of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category candidates should have been increased up to 60 years. It is pertinent to mention here that the age of superannuation of JMGS-I is 60 years. After hearing the counsel for the petitioner and in light of the aforesaid facts, I do not find any merit in the present petition filed by the petitioner. In my opinion, since the upper age limit pertaining to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category candidates is already 57 years, no further relaxation could have been given by proportionately increasing the upper age limit of the candidates belonging to that category because the age of superannuation for the post of JMGS-I is 60 years. By considering various representations from the senior employees belonging to General C.W.P. No.9526 of 2009 -3- Category, the respondent bank has increased the upper age limit of the candidates belonging to that category from 52 to 55 years, which cannot be said to be unreasonable or discriminatory, merely on the ground that the upper age limit in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category has not been increased, which was already more than the General Category candidates. The fact that always there was a difference of five years in the eligibility limit between the candidates belonging to General Category and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, which has not been maintained, itself is not sufficient to declare the action of the respondents as illegal, arbitrary or discriminatory. Thus, I do not find any illegality in the impugned order. No ground for interference is made out. Dismissed. July 03, 2009 (SATISH KUMAR MITTAL) vkg JUDGE