Lok Sabha Question No. 6204 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-04
Subject: Promotion of CSS Officers
Ministry: PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
Asked by: CH. MALLA REDDY

## MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL AND TRAINING)

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 6204

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.04.2018)

## PROMOTION OF CSS OFFICERS

## 6204. SHRI CH. MALLA REDDY:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that promotion has not been granted to certain officers of Central Secretariat Service despite availability of vacancies;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  any  discrimination  has  been  reported  wherein  Senior  Officers  have  been superseded by the Junior ones and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether  reservation  policy  is  applied  on  ad-hoc  promotion  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (e) the action taken by the Government on all of the above issues; and
- (f) whether any financial benefit will be extended to the retired officers who have retired without getting their due promotion and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) &  (b):      Yes.  Regular  promotion  to  the  grades  of  Assistant  Section  Officer,  Section Officer,  Under  Secretary  and  Deputy  Secretary  of  Central  Secretariat  Service  (CSS)  for preparation of fresh Select List has not been undertaken after 30 th September, 2016 in view of pending  litigations  in  the  matter  of  reservation  in  promotion  before  the  Hon'ble  Supreme Court and other Courts.  Details of these court cases is attached as Annexure-I

- (c):   The question is not specific.  No definite period has been defined.  Hence no specific answer can be given.  However, promotion in all grades is governed by the extent Service Rules,  Regulations  and  instructions  of  Government  of  India  issued  from  time  to  time  on promotional matters.  Individual representations, if any in this regard are examined in terms of above Rules and instructions.
- (d):  The provision of reservation in promotion is applicable in respect of posts of Assistant Section  Officer  (Group  B),  Section  Officer  (Group  B),  and  Under  Secretary  (Group  A)  of CSS.   Ad-hoc promotion to the above grades of CSS has so far been done  in accordance with  the  guidelines  contained  in  this  Department's  OM  No.36011/14/83-Estt.(SCT)  dated 30.04.1983,  which  entails  consideration  of  the  claims  of  Scheduled  Castes  and  Scheduled Tribes in ad-hoc promotions.
- (e):  The  Government  is  defending  the  aforesaid  court  cases  actively  before  the  Hon'ble Courts.

(f):    The  entitlement  to  retired  officers  is  governed  by  the  policy  formulated  by  the Government in this regard from time to time.

## ANNEXURE-I REFERRED TO IN PART (A) & (B) OF THE UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6204 FOR ANSWER ON 04/04/2018.

## A BRIEF ON COURT CASES IMPINGING UPON THE PROMOTION IN DIFFERENT GRADES OF CSS

- 1.1 The  Department  of  Personnel  and  Training's  (DoPT)  OM  No  36012/45/2005Estt.(Res.) dated 10.8.2010 on the subject of reservation on promotion - treatment of SC/ST candidates promoted on their own merit, was quashed by the Hon'ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana vide its judgement dated 15.07.2011.  Against this order an SLP was filed by Jarnail Singh & Ors.  The Union of India through Department of Revenue also filed SLP (c) No.6915/2014 in this case.
- 1.2. The  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  vide  Order  dated  03.02.2015  passed  the  following interim order in SLP No.30621/2011-Jarnail Singh & Ors. Vs Lachmi Narain Gupta & Ors:-

'Let the matter be listed in the second week of March 2015 on a non-miscellaneous day.  Status quo existing as on today in respect of the promotional matters that are covered by the impugned judgement shall be maintained till the next date of hearing'

- 1.3. Subsequently Contempt Petition (C) No.314/2016 in SLP(C) 4831/2012 was  filed by Samta  Andolan  Samiti  before  the  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  alleging  that  the  DoPT  and Ministry of Railways have reportedly implemented the provision of OM dated 10.08.2010, in spite of the above said interim order dated 03.02.2015.
- 1.4. In order to preclude any interim order in the contempt case, as desired by the Supreme Court, an undertaking was given before the Hon'ble Court to the effect that till such time the main  matter  along  with  the  contempt  petition  is  decided  no  further  promotion  of  reserve category persons to unreserved post will be made based on the DoPT OM dated 10.08.2010 and Railway Board circular dated 14.09.2010.  As per information available on the Supreme Court's website, this case is listed for hearing on 07.05.2018.
- 2.1 In  WP(C) 3490/2010 and CM No.6956/2010 filed by All India Equality Forum Vs Union  of  India,  the  Hon'ble  High  Court,  Delhi  vide  para  15  of  its  judgement  dated 23.08.2017, has held as under:-

'The  impugned  OM  No.36012/18/95-Estt.(Res)Pt.II  dated  13.08.1997,  issued  by DoPT,  is  quashed  and  set  aside.    The  respondents  are  restrained  from  granting  any reservation, in promotion, to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, in exercise of the power conferred  by  Article  16(4A)  of  the  Constitution  of  India,  without,  in  the  first  instance, carrying  out  the  necessary  preliminary  exercise  of  acquiring  quantifiable  data  indicating inadequacy of representation, of the said categories, in service, and evaluating the situation by  taking  into  consideration  the  said  data,  along  with  the  competing  considerations  of backwardness and overall efficiency in administration, and arriving at an empirical decision on the basis thereof.'

- 2.2 An SLP vide No.31288/2017 has been filed by this Department against the judgement dated 23.08.2017 of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court.
- 2.3 Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  vide  order  dated  14.11.2017  in  CA  No.4562/2017  in  the matter of the State of Tripura & Ors. Vs Jayanta Chakraborty & Ors and vide order dated 15.11.2017 in SLP(C) No.28306/2017 in the matter of the State of Maharashtra & Anr Vs Vijay  Ghogre  &  Ors  has  referred  the  case  of  M.  Nagaraj  to  the  Constitutional  Bench  to examine if the M. Nagaraj judgement needs re-examination.
- 3.1 In  OA  No.  1111/2017  filed  by  Shri  Sambhunath  Jasra  &  Ors.  Vs  Union  of  India, Applicants had, inter-alia, prayed for direction to the respondents to make promotions to the

grade  of  Under  Secretary  and  above  for  the  select  list  years,  2003  and  onwards  without applying rules of reservation. As an interim relief, they also prayed that the respondents may be restrained from making further promotions to the grade of DS and above based on alleged erroneous  Under  Secretary  Select  Lists.    The  Hon'ble  Central  Administrative  Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, on 09.05.2017, passed an interim order, an extract of which is reproduced as below:

'.. … The Short grievance of the applicants is that the seniority is being conferred upon the promotees, who have been accorded accelerated promotion being from the reserved categories……………………………………………………………………………………

………………..Be that as it may, the respondents are directed not to grant benefit of seniority on the basis of accelerated promotion at the level of Under Secretary in contravention  to  the  mandate  contained  in  the  judgment  in  M.  Nagaraj's  case (supra) to any person from the date of passing of this order….'

- 3.2 The OA alongwith the contempt petition has since been disposed off by the Hon'ble Tribunal on 21.03.2018.  The Order is awaited.
4. There  is  one  more  Court  case  which  is  related  to  the  promotion  to  the  Section Officer's  grade.    The  vacancies  in  this  grade  are  filled  up  through  two  modes  -.  Limited Department Competitive Examination (LDCE) (50%) and Seniority Quota (SQ) (50%). The last  LDCE  was  held  by  Union  Public  Service  Commission  in  2015,  but  the  result  has  not been declared in view of the pending litigation in W.P. No 1738/2017 filed by the Union of India before the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi against the order dated 16.09.2016 of the Ld. CAT,  PB,  New  Delhi.  The  next  date  of  hearing  in  this  case  is  09.05.2018.  The  matter involved  in  this  WP  is  that  Direct  Recruit  Assistants  are  seeking  relaxations  in  rules  by reckoning approved service from 1 st July of the year of examination whereas the extant rules provide  for  reckoning  the  same  from  the  1 st of  July  of  the  following  year  in  which  the examination was held.

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