ORDER

J.S. Khehar, J.

1. The claim of the appellant-Prabhu Dayal Khandelwal was to be considered for promotion from the post of Commissioner of Income Tax to that of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. 55 vacancies in the cadre of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax arose in the year 2000-2001, and a further 46 vacancies arose during the year 2001-2002.

2. It is not a matter of dispute, that the benchmark for promotion to the post of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, under the prevailing DoPT guidelines was “very good”. In other words only such of the Commissioners of Income Tax, whose service record was “very good” would be treated as satisfying the “merit” component in the process of selection. When the claim of the appellant arose for consideration, the five Annual Confidential Reports which were liable to be taken into consideration were, for the years 1995-1996 to 1999-2000. Of the aforesaid Reports, in three the appellant was graded as “good” (for the years 1995-1996, 1996-1997 and 1998-1999), and in the remaining two he was graded as “very good” (for the years 1997-1998 and 1999-2000). On account of the fact, that the appellant did not satisfy the benchmark stipulated in the DoPT gu