IMPORTANT POINT
The ACR of an officer forms a part of his service record and he cannot be prejudiced merely because his superior officers delayed writing it.

JUDGMENT

Madan B. Lokur, J.

1. These appeals raise a narrow question for consideration, namely, whether the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of an officer forms a part of his ‘service record’ and whether it could be ignored for the purposes of his promotion merely on the ground that it was written after some delay. In our opinion, the ACR of an officer forms a part of his service record and he cannot be prejudiced merely because his superior officers delayed writing it. The judgment and order to the contrary passed by the Madras High Court on 27th October, 2006 in W.P. Nos. 15791-15795 of 2006 does not laydown the correct law, P. Sivanandi v. Rajiv Kumar, MANU/TN/9878/2006.

P. Sivanandi v. Rajiv Kumar, MANU/TN/9878/2006 – Not laying correct law [Para 1]

2. As mentioned above, the issue involved in this case is rather narrow and it is not necessary to detail all the facts of the case. Suffice it to say that the appellant Sivanandi was directly recruited on or about 6th May, 1985 as a Deputy Superintendent of Police with the Tamil Nadu Police.

3. A Select Committee constituted under the Indian Police Service (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955 considered Sivanandi, amongst others, for promotion in 1994-95 to the Indian Police Service. The Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) required to be considered for his promotion related to the period from 01.04.1989 to 31.03.1994.

4. The Select Committee graded Sivanandi as ‘Good’ when it met on 7th March, 1995. This grading was apparently arrived at on the basis of his service records minus his ACR for 1992-93 which was missing and minus his ACR for a part of the period of 1993-94 that is from 01.04.1993 to 15.07.1993 which had not been written. He was however, considered in the subsequent year 1995-96 and promoted to the IPS with the year of allotment being 1993.

5. On a challenge having been raised to the selection to the Indian Police Service by some aggrieved officers, an original application was filed before the Central Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal), which set aside the selection for 1994-95. The Tribunal then directed a fresh selection process. The opinion expressed by the Tribunal was accepted by this Court by an order dated 20th February, 2002 in Civil Appeal Nos. 1299-1305 of 1999 etc. (Christopher Nelson v. U.P.S.C. & Ors.).

6. In view of the above facts, a Review Select Committee constituted under the said Regulations met on 24th March, 1999 and considered the eligible officers including Sivanandi for promotion to the IPS as on the year 1994-95. By this time, the missing ACR of Sivanandi for the year 1992-93 had been located. Additionally, the ACR for the above period 01.04.1993 to 15.07.1993 which could not be placed before the Select Committee in its meeting held on 7th March, 1995 was also available. In fact, it transpires that the ACR for that period of about three and a half months was written by the Reporting Officer on 14.11.1994; it was reviewed by the Reviewing Officer on 19.01.1996; it was accepted by the Accepting Authority on 27.01.1996. These dates explain why the ACR for the period 01.04.1993 to 15.07.1993 could not be placed before the Select Committee when it met on 7th March, 1995.

7. Be that as it may, in view of the consideration of Sivanadi’s ACRs including the ACR for 1992-93 and for the period from 01.04.1993 to 15.07.1993 he was graded ‘Very Good’ and promoted to the IPS with the year of allotment being 1991.

8. Feeling aggrieved by Sivanandi’s selection, the private respondents before us approached the Tribunal through a batch of applications being O.A. No. 595-598 of 2005 and O.A. No. 780 of 2005.

9. By a common order dated 5th May, 2006 the Tribunal allowed the original applications filed by the private respondents on the finding that the ACR for the period 01.04.1993 to 15.07.1993 was invalid and could not have been considered by the Review Select Committee since it was written beyond the period prescribed by the State Government and therefo