IMPORTANT POINT
Charges held proved by I.O. cannot be dropped without cogent reasons.

JUDGMENT

Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 8th July, 2013 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Writ Petition No.5508 of 2013. Initially, the appellant herein challenged the Government notifications dated 10th February, 2012 and 13th April, 2012 whereby 1st respondent was promoted and appointed to the Indian Administrative Service, before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras Bench by filing OA No.249 of 2012 and the same was allowed by order dated 18th February, 2013. By the impugned judgment the High Court set aside the said order dated 18th February, 2013 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal.

3. The factual matrix of the case is as follows: The appellant and the 1st respondent are officers of Tamil Nadu State Civil Services. They were considered for promotion to the Indian Administrative Service (hereinafter referred to as the "IAS") against certain percentage of posts available for members of the State Civil Service.

4. On 1st September, 2009, the State of Tamil Nadu prepared a list of 27 eligible candidates for consideration for appointment against 19 vacancies of IAS for the year 2009. The list was sent to the Secretary, Union Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "UPSC"). The name of the appellant was included at serial No.26 and the name of the 1st respondent was placed at serial No.16 of the said list prepared on the basis of seniority list of the State Civil Service. In the seniority list of State Civil Service the appellant was placed at serial No.59 and 1st respondent at serial No.34.

5. On 4th November, 2009, the State Government issued a charge-sheet against the 1st respondent under Rule 17(b) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Service (Discipline and Appeal) Rules for certain irregularities committed by him while working as Senior Regional Manager, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Ltd. On 3rd February, 2011, the State Government prepared a list of 10 eligible candidates for appointment to the IAS cadre against the 2009 vacancies. The appellant was shown at serial No.9 and 1st respondent at serial No.4. The list was forwarded to the UPSC.

6. On 10th March, 2011, the UPSC sought for clarifications and some more information from the State Government. By its letter dated 12th April, 2011, the State Government enclosed the Annual Character Rolls (ACRs) of all the eligible candidates, which according to the State Government were valid. The State Government withheld some of the ACRs of certain candidates including the 1st respondent on the ground that the ACRs were not valid. The ACRs of the 1st respondent pertaining to the period 27th July, 1998 to 10th June, 2002 i.e., for 5 years alone, were forwarded to the UPSC and the ACRs of the 1st respondent for the period from 10th June, 2002 to 31st March, 2009 were withheld by the State.

7. On 7th December, 2011, the State Government forwarded a list of 13 candidates for promotion to the IAS cadre against 2 vacancies for the year 2010. The appellant was shown at serial No.8 and the 1st respondent at serial No.4. The ACRs of all the candidates including the 1st respondent for the period 26th May, 2006 to 7th January, 2008 were forwarded.

8. The Selection Committee prepared a Select List of 2009 and 2010 on 27th December, 2011 against the respective vacancies of those years. The appellant was not selected. According to the appellant, though his ACRs were far better than the ACRs of other candidates including 1st respondent, he was not selected.

9. A notification dated 10th February, 2012 was issued by the Government of India and the selected candidates were appointed to the IAS cadre for the vacancies of 2009 and 2010.

10. The appellant having not selected/promoted filed Original Application No.249 of 2012 before the Central Administrative Trib