The absence of critical APAR records for promotion eligibility undermines fair evaluation, necessitating due process in promotion assessments.

JUDGMENT :

Office is directed to place on record the supplementary counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents no.1 to 4, as the consideration has been made on basis of photostat copy of the said supplementary counter affidavit, having been made available by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the bank.

2. Heard Mr. Bipin Bihari Singh, along with Mr. Shyama Kant Singh, learned counsels appearing on behalf of the petitioners; Dr. Binod Kr. Jha along with Mr. Devendra Prasad, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent Indian Bank and Mr. Amish Kumar, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Union of India.

3. The petitioners have inter alia prayed for following reliefs in the paragraphs No.1 of the writ petition:-

i) For Issuance of Writ in the nature of Mandamus Commanding upon the Respondents Authorities to consider the candidature of the Petitioner in the List of Provisionally Eligible Candidates for On-Line Test for Promotion from MMG Scale-II to SMG Scale-III, for "Mainstream Officers", (Promotion Process 2012-2013) prepared On the basis of Instruction based on Circular No.11901/PA/2012-2013/15 Dated; 19.05.2012, and the abovementioned list was prepared on the basis of recommendation and marks granted on the basis of APAR Report send by the Zonal Office of Allahabad Bank and as per notification the minimum qualified mark in APAR Report should be 60% for appearance in the examination.

ii) For Issuance of Writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the Respondents Authority specially Respondent No.4 i.e. A.G.M Bhagalpur to reconsider the APAR Report of Petitioner and grant marks in the APAR Report as per the eligibility, Criteria affixed and Work done by the Petitioner, Whereas the A.G.M Bhagalpur maliciously granted Petitioner less than 60% marks without considering the outstanding performance of the Petitioner throughout his service Period.

iii) For Quashing the Circular No. 11810/PA/2011-2012/37 Dated; 22.03.2012 and 11897/PA/2012-2013/11 Dated; 19.05.2012, Whereby and Whereunder Officers was required to obtain minimum 60% marks in APA Report for each of the Service required for eligibility for promotion and the aforesaid circular was required to be implemented from retrospective effect, where as in most of the cases the APA report has already been prepared by the respective AGM as according to the previous guideline.

iv) For Granting Stay to the entire process of the Test conducted on the basis of list prepared by the Respondent Authority.

v) For issuance of any other relief or reliefs.

4. Petitioners are aggrieved on account of the fact that in spite of the better service record, their cases were not considered and only on the basis of Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR), pertaining to the year 2009-10 to 2011-12, they were disqualified for promotion from MMG Scale II to MMG Scale III.

5. The Allahabad Bank merged into Indian Bank in the year 2020. The petitioners were initially the employees of the Allahabad Bank and were guided by the guidelines for promotion of officers in the Public Sector Banks, as per the guidelines of the Government of India, the Ministry of Finance, the Department of Finance Service. In this regard, Allahabad Bank has issued circular in year 2012 with respect to promotion policy and subsequently vide instruction contained in circular dated 24.03.2022, issued vacancy for promotion for MMG Scale II to MMG Scale III, which are as follows:-

a. Normal Channel/seniority channel. Total Number of vacancies available was 380.

b. Merit Channel/Fast Track – Total Number of vacancies available was 253.

6. In this regard, it is relevant to quote paragraph nos. 11 to 14 of the writ petition, which are as follows:-

“11. That it is further relevant to state here that as per the Revised Promotion Policy and Instruction circular No.11866/PA/2011-2012/38 Dated:24.03.2012, total number of vacancies issued for Promotion from MMG Scale II- MMG Scale III were as follows;

Normal Channel/Seniority Cha