Ajit Kr. Bhuyan . vs Debajit Das .

3. Mr. Debajit Das (respondent No.1 herein) was appointed as an Assistant Engineer in the Public Works Department on September 30, 1996 and on completing six years of service he was promoted to the post of Assistant Executive Engineer in December 2002. Subsequently, a post for ex-cadre Executive Engineer was created and he was promoted to the said post vide Notification dated April 02, 2005. Respondent No.1 was granted regular promotion by encadering him on the recommendation of the Selection Committee pursuant to its meeting dated July 27, 2005.

4. On October 14, 2014, an inter se seniority list of Executive Engineers was published and within three days a Selection Committee meeting was convened for promotion to the post of Superintending Engineer. Although the Selection Board proceeded on the basis that there were thirteen vacancies for the post of Superintending Engineers on that date, the appellants herein contend that the number of available vacancies were only ten (six for the year 2011 and four for the year 2014). The appellants have also contended that this increased number of Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 25770 of 2015 Page 2 of 20 vacancies was shown only to accommodate respondent No.1 who was at Serial No. 52 in the seniority list. As per the Selection Committee, however, one Ajit Kr. Kakati was promoted from Superintending Engineer to Assistant Superintending Engineer; one Jiauddin Ahmed had suffered the punishment of compulsory retirement and one Kamkhya Prasad Bezbarua was sent on deputation. Thus, three new vacancies arose. With thirteen vacancies, respondent No. 1 was brought within the zone of consideration and was recommended for promotion to the post of Superintending Engineer on October 28, 2014 and the promotion order was issued.

5. Respondent No.11 herein had filed the writ petition being Writ Petition (Civil) No. 5470 of 2014 before the Gauhati High Court challenging the promotion of respondent No.1 to the post of Superintending Engineer. Subsequently, the Assam PWD Engineers Service Association submitted a representation to the Chief Minister of Assam, who by endorsement dated November 11, 2014 directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Personnel Department) to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit a report. Pursuant thereto, an inquiry was conducted and the report was forwarded to the Commissioner and Special Secretary Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 25770 of 2015 Page 3 of 20 to the Government of Assam (PWD) which mentioned grave irregularities and illegalities committed in promoting respondent No.1. Thereafter, the PWD (Confidential Cell), Government of Assam, issued a letter dated December 24, 2014 to various officials of the Personnel Department informing them that a Review Selection Board meeting would be held on January 02, 2015 regarding the promotion to the rank of Executive Engineer (Civil) and Superintending Engineer (Civil).

10. The issue pertains to the promotion of respondent No.1 and his seniority vis-a-vis the three appellants in the appeal arising out of Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 25770 of 2015 Page 5 of 20 Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 25770 of 2015. The other two appeals are by the State of Assam as well as Assam PWD Engineers Service Association who are supporting the three appellants in the aforesaid appeal. For this reason, they also assailed the impugned judgment dated August 07, 2015 of the High Court. However, for the sake of convenience, the parties shall be referred to with reference to the appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 25770 of 2015, i.e. the appellants and respondent No.1 respectively.

11. Before proceeding further, it would be apt to discuss the manner in which the Division Bench of the High Court has proceeded with the matter resulting into the aforesaid outcome. After taking note of the seminal facts which have already been stated above, the High Court summarised the findings of the learned Single Judge in the following manner:

Under Secretary Finance (EC-II) Department”

Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 25770 of 2015 Page 19 of 20

29. We, accordingly allow these appeals, set aside the impugned judgment dated August 07, 2015 of the Division Bench of the High Court and restore the judgment of the learned Single Judge.

No order as to costs.

OCTOBER 23, 2018.

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