IMPORTANT POINTS
Promotion to a post can only happen when the promotional post and the post from which promotion is sought are part of the same class of service.
Judgment cannot be interpreted like a statute.
Appointment of GDS to Postman can only be by way of direct recruitment.
Reservation for candidates belonging to OBC category is permissible.

JUDGMENT

V. GOPALA GOWDA, J.

The present appeals arise out of the common impugned judgment and order dated 20.12.2011 passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in OP (CAT) No. 1095 of 2011 (S) and connected petitions, whereby the High Court upheld the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ernakulam Bench (hereinafter referred to as the “Tribunal”), which held that the appointment from GDS/EDA to the post of Postman is only by promotion and not direct recruitment, and that because of this reason, the age restriction under Column No. 7(2) of the Department of Posts (Postman/ Village Postman and Mail Guards) Recruitment Rules, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the “Recruitment Rules”) as well as reservation against the OBC category is not permissible.

2. Since a common question of law arises in both these appeals, for the sake of convenience, we refer to the facts of the Civil Appeal No. 90 of 2015. The facts of the case required to appreciate the rival legal contentions advanced on behalf of the parties are stated in brief as hereunder:

Appellant nos. 1-4 belong to the OBC category. On 30.11.1992, appellant no.3 commenced service as a Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS) MD. Appellant no.2 commenced service as GDS MD on 16.11.1998, appellant no.4 on 22.08.2001 and appellant no.1 on 08.01.2003. In 2009, the Postmaster General notified 11 vacancies for the post of Postman/Mail Guard. On 27.02.2010, all the four appellants were appointed to the post of Postman, after passing the departmental examination for the same. Challenging the said appointments, Respondent nos. 1 and 2 filed OA 436 of 2010 before the Tribunal on the ground that the appointment to the post of Postman is by way of promotion and, therefore, there can be no reservations for persons belonging to OBCs for the said posts. It was contended before the Tribunal that the selection and appointment of the appellants herein under GDS merit quota overlooking the higher marks obtained by the respondents herein on the basis of the examination held on 20.12.2009 is illegal and arbitrary and that the same is violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The Tribunal, adjudicating the essential question as to whether the recruitment of GDS to the cadre of Postman through departmental examination is merit based selection on promotion or not, held as under:

“If the Recruitment Rules for Postman/Mail Guard are read keeping the entire scheme of promotion in view then the method of recruitment of GDS to the cadre of Postman through departmental examination is to be treated as merit based selection on promotion only. Admittedly, the reservation for the OBC category will not apply to the recruitment of GDS to the cadre of Postman in the instant O.A. Consequently, the nature of the unfulfilled unreserved vacancies in the departmental quota when added to the merit quota of GDS will remain the same as unreserved. Therefore, there is no justification for transferring the unreserved vacancies to the OBC category. That being so, the appointment of the party respondents 4 to 7 is against unreserved vacancies. This appointment is legally untenable because the claim of the applicants for appointment against unreserved vacancies, on account of their having higher merit than the part respondents cannot be ignored.”

The Tribunal further held that the order of the Full Bench of the Tribunal passed in O.A. No. 807 of 1999, dated 03.11.1999, holding that the appointment of Extra Departmental Agents to the post of Postman was by way of direct recruitment and not promotion was not applicable to the facts of the instant case. It was distinguished on the ground that the question before the Full Bench was with respect to filling up of those 25% of total vacancies notified for the post of Postman, which were to be filled on the basis of seniority, and thus, pertained to Column 11(2)(i) of the Recruitment Rules, whereas the controversy in the instant case was with respect to the other 25% of th