Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 30: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has observed that the Government employee cannot be deprived of legitimate promotion on account of administrative error.
The CAT directed the authorities to review the 12 year old Departmental Promotion Committee case of aggrieved employee for his due promotion.
The Division Bench of Harvinder Kaur Oberoi, and Shri Krishna, both members allowed the plea of aggrieved employee challenging order 82-SC of 2010 dated 13-11-2010 and order No. 07/SWCD of 2018 dated 29-05-2018 issued by the Director, Soil and Water Conservation Department, J&K and directed for considering the case of applicant for promotion.
The bench directed the authorities to hold review DPC of the DPC dated 26.10.2010 and to place the name of the applicant-Khurshid Ahmad Bader amongst eligible candidates before the review DPC.
They have been further directed to consider the case of the applicant for promotion from the date the similarly situated employee was promoted. However, with only notional benefits, actual benefits of the promotion shall flow to the applicant from the date the order is passed by the DPC to be held but not later than a period of three months.
CAT while allowing the plea recorded that it must be borne in mind that a Government employee cannot be deprived of his legitimate promotion arbitrarily without any reasonable ground for no fault of his own.
CAT added that if the employee has been wrongly denied promotion on account of an administrative error, the administration is not only within its competence but is duty bound to rectify the error and accord the benefit to which the Government employee is entitled to.
“Law does not permit a wrong to perpetuate itself for it has necessarily to be corrected by way of rectification. Generally, one has only a right to be considered for promotion and not to the promotion itself. Accordingly, no person can claim a right to be promoted from the date when the vacancy arose and he would generally take the benefit from the date of actual promotion”, read the judgment.
CAT has clarified that the position would not be in order when a person has been wrongly deprived of due consideration for promotion resulting in denial thereof which he was otherwise legally entitled to under the rules. “Such unintentional mistakes are amenable to necessary rectification by holding review DPC. Thus, where there has been a gross error in the procedure followed by the DPC such as omitting the eligible person from consideration or considering the ineligible person by mistake, the same can be rectified by holding a review DPC and then extend the benefit due to an employee of which he has been wrongly deprived on account of such an error”, read the judgment.
Objections of the respondents to the RBA certificate of the applicant under which the applicant was supposed to be promoted were rejected on the ground that the relevant provisions of J&K Reservation Act, 2004 had been declared ultra-virus and null & void by the High Court, so no reservation benefit could be granted to the applicant.
The CAT bench rejected this argument as advanced by the respondent-department as the judgment of the High Court declaring the provisions ultra virus, is sub-judice before the Apex Court and an Interim stay on the operation of the said judgment has also been granted, therefore, it cannot be said that the provisions providing for reservation are not in operation.
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