Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2020 Supreme(SC) 684

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
L. NAGESWARA RAO, HEMANT GUPTA, AJAY RASTOGI, JJ.
Inderjit Singh Sodhi and Others – Appellants
Versus
The Chairman, Punjab State Electricity Board and Another – Respondents
Civil Appeal Nos. 3835, 3836, 3837 of 2020, S.L.P. (C) Nos. 22791, 23877, 24195 of 2014
Decided On : 03-12-2020

Advocates Appeared:
For the Appellant(s) : Mr. P.S. Patwalia, Sr. Adv. Mr. B. K. Satija, AOR Mr. Himanshu Satija, Adv. Ms. Neha Mehta, Adv. Mr. Anil Mittal, Adv. Mr. Vibhuti Sushant Gupta, Adv. Mr. Ram Naresh Yadav, AOR
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Satinder S. Gulati,Adv. Ms. Priya Puri, AOR Ms. Rashmi Sachdeva, Adv. Mr. Vibhav Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Yati Sharma, Adv.

IMPORTANT POINT
Appellants cannot claim time bound promotion after completion of 9/16 years at par with other employees.

Headnote:
Service Law – Pay Scale – Parity – There is no assertion that any of appellants have qualified both parts of A.M.I.E. Examination which is treated to be equivalent to Engineering Degree – Appellants being only Diploma holders were promoted under Regulation 7(a)(ii) read with Regulation 10.4 of Regulations – They had opportunity to compete for direct recruitment after 12 years of service which they never availed or remained unsuccessful – Appellants were promoted within 9 or 16 years from their initial appointment, therefore, they are not entitled to time bound promotional scale – Appellants would have been entitled to claim parity only if they were qualified and promoted against posts reserved for those employees by direct recruitment – Appellants cannot claim time bound promotion after completion of 9/16 years at par with other two employees – Argument that appellants are entitled to promotion scale after 23 years was not the case setup either in writ petition or even in present appeals – Such a factual argument cannot be permitted to be raised at this stage – No error in order passed by High Court which may warrant any interference of this Court – Appeals dismissed. [Punjab State Electricity Board Service of Engineers (Civil) Regulations, 1965 – Regulations 9 and 10] (Paras 17, 20, 24 and 25)
Facts of the case:
Present appeals are directed against a common order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 09.04.2014 whereby the intra-Court appeals filed by the Punjab State Electricity Board were allowed and the order of Learned Single Judge, allowing the writ petitions for the grant of 9/16 years’ time bound revised promotional scale to the appellants was set aside.
Findings of Court:
In terms of the First and Second Circulars, the employees of the Board who have not earned promotion within 9 years from their initial recruitment are entitled to time bound promotional scale. If they have been promoted within the initial 9 years, the next promotion cannot be granted to them after completion of 3 years.
Result : Appeals dismissed.

JUDGMENT :

HEMANT GUPTA, J.

1. The present appeals are directed against a common order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 09.04.2014 whereby the intra-Court appeals filed by the Punjab State Electricity Board were allowed and the order of Learned Single Judge, allowing the writ petitions for the grant of 9/16 years’ time bound revised promotional scale to the appellants was set aside.

2. The facts of the appeals are similar but for the sake of reference, facts are taken from the appeal preferred by Inderjit Singh Sodhi and others. The appellants herein have claimed time bound promotional scale while working as Assistant Engineers. They were promoted to the said post from the post of Junior Engineer. The services of the appellants are governed by the Punjab State Electricity Board Service of Engineers (Civil) Regulations, 1965 [for short ‘Civil Regulations’].

3. The post of Assistant Engineer as per Regulation 7 is required to be filled up (1) by direct recruitment in terms of Regulation 9; (2) by promotion in terms of Regulation 10 or (3) by transfer of an officer already in services of a Government or another Government or Undertaking of the Government. The qualification required for direct recruitment under Regulation 9 is BE in Civil Engineering from a recognised institution or university. The Regulations further permit serving Section Officers who possess three or four years diploma in Civil Engineering and minimum 12 years qualifying service to apply for the post by way of direct recruitment. Regulation 10, on the other hand, provides for the promotion of the candidates with not less than 10 years’ experience subject to the condition that their number do not exceed 30 per cent of the total number of the cadre posts of the Assistant Engineers.

4. The relevant extract of the Civil Regulations read as under:-

“7. Recruitment to the Service shall be made by the Appointment Authority by any of the methods indicated below as may be determined in each case:-

(a) In case of posts of Assistant Engineers.

(i) By direct appointment as provided in Regulation 9.

(ii) By Promotion as provided in Regulation 10.

(iii) By transfer of an officer already in the service of a Government or any other State Electricity Board or an Undertaking of Government.

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QUALIFICATION FOR DIRECT APPOINTMENT

9. No Person shall be appointed as AE (Civil) on training by direct appointment unless he has passed BE in Civil Engineering from recognised Institution/Universities (Equivalency as notified by the Institution of Engineers Association of Indian Universities/ Pbi.University/Pbi.Univ. Calendar).

PSEB Serving sectional officers (Civil) who possess ¾ years diploma in Civil Engineering and have minimum 12 years qualifying service as Sectional Officer (Civil) with satisfactory service record shall also be eligible to apply for the post.

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QUALIFICATION FOR APPOIONTMENT BY PROMOTION

10.1 (a) Sectional Officers (Civil) under the Board having their record above average and with not less than 10 years experience to their credit shall be eligible for appointment to the service as Assistant Engineer, subject to the condition that their number does not exceed 20% of the total number of cadre posts of Assistant Engineers excluding the posts with B.D.M.B./B.C.B. and deputation posts or posts where PSEB cannot directly post its officers i.e. Hydel/Design Directorate, Chandigarh.

(b) Over and above this reservation, Sectional Officers (Civil) with requisite service/experience may be considered for additional vacancies of Assistant Engineers for field work without any fixed percentage.

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3. Persons appointed by promotion as Assistant Engineers under Sub-Regulation (1) and (2) above shall not be eligible for promotion to the posts of Assistant Executive Engineer and above, unless they possess the qualification prescribed in Regulation-9.

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2020 Supreme(SC) 684

IMPORTANT POINTAppellants cannot claim time bound promotion after completion of 9/16 years at par with other employees.

Cases Referred (2)

IMPORTANT POINT
Appellants cannot claim time bound promotion after completion of 9/16 years at par with other employees.