Union Public Service Commision vs Jawahar Santhkumar And Ors.

2. Brief facts which led to filing of these appeals are as under:-

3. Aggrieved by his non-appointment to the IAS, the first respondent filed OA No.749 of 2006 before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Madras Bench. The said application was dismissed by the Tribunal vide order dated 31.08.2007 holding that the first respondent’s name was included by the State Government in the list of officers eligible for consideration for the year 2004 and accordingly, the Selection Committee considered the first respondent’s ACRs and made a relative assessment of all the officers under consideration. The Tribunal pointed out that the Selection Committee makes its own assessment on the basis of entries made in the various columns and after discussion within the Committee, finally arrives at a classification “Outstanding”, “Very Good”, “Good” and “Unfit” to be assigned to an officer. Finding no irregularity by the Selection Committee in making the relative assessment, the Tribunal dismissed the application filed by the first respondent. The first respondent then filed review application in RA No.27 of 2007 in OA No.749 of 2006 seeking review of the Tribunal’s order dated 31.08.2007 and the said review petition came to be dismissed by the Tribunal vide order dated 03.10.2007.

4. Aggrieved by the dismissal of his application, the first respondent filed writ petition in WP No.33696 of 2007. The High Court held that the Tribunal by its order dated 26.06.2002 directed 3 for fixation of the first respondent’s seniority in the cadre of District Revenue Officer; but the seniority of the first respondent was not refixed within a reasonable time by the State Government and the first respondent’s seniority was refixed vide G.O.Ms. No.924 dated 05.09.2005 with a long and unexplained delay of 39 months which is unfair and thus, has caused much prejudice to the first respondent since in the meantime his juniors namely respondent Nos. 4 and 5 were promoted to the IAS. The High Court also held that as per Regulation 5(5), the classification of an individual by the Selection Committee is very crucial and for the year 2003, the overall assessment of the first respondent had been adjudged as “Very Good” by the Committee; whereas the overall assessment of the first respondent pertaining to Select List of 2004 was just “Good” and there was no reason whatsoever as to why suddenly the first respondent has been down-graded in his overall rating. The High Court also pointed out that for another person by name Shri T.K. Ponnusamy who was rated “Unfit” in 2003, was rated as “Very Good” in 2004 and there is no reason for such sudden hike in the classification/overall rating of Shri T.K. Ponnusamy. The High Court held that when T.K. Ponnusamy against whom criminal case was pending, was preferred over the first respondent for inclusion in the Select List, the same cannot be appreciated. The High Court set 4 aside the order of the Tribunal by holding that the Selection Committee and the Tribunal failed to assess all the aspects of the case in their proper perspective and directed the appellant and respondent Nos.2 and 3 to convene a Selection Committee Meeting for reviewing the promotions made to the IAS for the year 2004 and promote the first respondent to the IAS from the date when his juniors were promoted with all the consequential benefits.

5. Being aggrieved, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the Government of Tamil Nadu have preferred these appeals. When the appeals were taken up for hearing, it was brought to the notice of this Court that the first respondent has been dismissed from the service vide G.O.Ms. No.1125 dated 26.11.2011 on the allegation of possession of disproportionate assets and also on the ground of his involvement in a criminal case in Crime No.37 of 2008 registered against him by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Unit, Trichy.

11. All India Services Act, 1951 has been enacted for the purpose of regulating the recruitment and conditions of service of persons belonging to the Indian Administrative Services. Under Section 3 of the said Act, the Central Government has framed the IAS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955 (Promotion Regulations). In accordance with the provisions of the said Promotion Regulations, the Selection Committee, presided over by the Chairman/Member of the UPSC makes selection of the State Civil Service Officers for promotion to the Indian Administrative Service. In Regulation 5(1) of the Promotion Regulations, the number of vacancies against which selection is to be made for a particular recruitment year for promotion to the Indian Administrative Service of the State Cadre is determined by the Government of India (DoPT) in consultation with the State Government concerned. Thereafter, the State Government forwards a proposal to the Commission along with seniority list, eligibility list (three times the number of vacancies) of the State Service Officers, integrity certificates, details regarding disciplinary proceedings and details of penalties imposed on the eligible officers etc. and complete ACR dossiers of the eligible officers. When the Selection Committee 9 meet for selection for the recruitment year, the above documents are placed before the Selection Committee in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 5(4) of the Promotion Regulations. The Committee duly classifies the eligible State Civil Service Officers included in the zone of consideration as “Outstanding”, “Very Good”, “Good” or “Unfit”, as the case may be, on an overall relative assessment of their service records. Thereafter, as per the provisions of Regulation 5(5) of the Promotion Regulations, the Selection Committee prepares a list by including the required number of names firstly from the officers finally classified as “Outstanding”, then from amongst those similarly classified as “Very Good” and thereafter, from amongst those officers classified as “Good”. The relevant part of the Regulations 5(4) and 5(5) reads as under:-

26. In the result, the impugned judgment dated 17.04.2008 passed by the High Court of Madras in Writ Petition No.33696 of 2007 is set aside and these appeals are allowed. Insofar as the challenge by the first respondent to G.O. Ms. No.1125 dated 26.11.2011, the same shall be considered on its own merits without being influenced by any of the views expressed in this judgment.

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