The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for fairness and objectivity in preparing APARs, and the court's authority to expunge unjustified adverse remarks and direct a review DPC for promotion.

JUDGMENT

Neena Bansal Krishna, J. The petitioner has filed the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking to issue a writ of certiorari for quashing the Annual Performance Assessment Report (hereinafter referred to as "APAR") for the period between 19.06.2014 to 08.11.2014 and also to quash the Orders dated 08.08.2015 and 10.12.2015 and conduct a review DPC for promotion of the petitioner to the rank of Dy. Commandant with all consequential benefits.

2. The petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Commandant/GD on 16.04.2009 with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (hereinafter referred to as "ITBP"). He was posted with 35th Battalion of the ITBP at Almora from where he was transferred and posted with 39th Battalion ITBP at Greater Noida, in the month of June, 2014. During the period of posting with 39th Battalion ITBP, the petitioner diligently participated in all the activities with keenness, rendered outstanding performance and successfully performed the duties of Adjutant, Company Commander and Assistant Commandant (Intelligence/Ops) which is a Unit responsible for security of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

3. In November, 2014, after considering the course profile, skill and ability of the petitioner, the respondent posted the petitioner with the ITBP Academy as a panelled Instructor. During that period as well, the petitioner was given "Very Good" grading in the APAR for the remaining period, starting from November, 2014 to 31.03.2015. The petitioner was also given Appreciation Letter by the Office of Inspector General/Director Academy which itself is demonstrative of the outstanding performance of the petitioner.

4. It is asserted that the while writing the impugned APAR, the Appraisal Officer failed to reflect the conduct, character and capability of the petitioner thereby, damaging his entire future career prospect in the Organization.

5. The petitioner has stated that despite having an outstanding career graph, when the petitioner was stationed under the command of the Commandant Mr. Rajesh Kumar Tomar at 39th Battalion during the period w.e.f. 19.06.2014 to 08.11.2014, the petitioner's entire professional enterprise and initiative was marginalised and his career profile/record was downgraded without any cause whatsoever. As per the APAR of the period 19.06.2014 to 08.11.2014, the overall numerical/numeral grading of the petitioner was given as "0" (zero), despite having earned the appreciations of the appraisal officers.

6. The petitioner has further contended that the comments of the Reviewing Officer are completely erroneous as the incidents relied upon, are not even part of the relevant period and have been made totally out of context and outside his purview.

7. Further, the Countersigning/Accepting Authority made the endorsement affirming the comments in a mechanical manner without independently confirming the factum of the observations made by the Reporting Officer and the Reviewing Officer which itself speaks of non-application of mind by completely overlooking the past track record and in total disregard to the competence of the petitioner while appraising the petitioner. The Accepting Authority has endorsed the views of the first Appraising Officer/Reviewing Officer which is totally contrary to official Rules/records.

8. The petitioner being aggrieved, made a detailed Representation dated 08.08.2015 before the Competent Authority i.e., Office of the Inspector General, Central FTR, wherein not only did he challenge the basis of findings and the imputations but also highlighted the mala fide and bias being committed by the Appraising/Reporting Officer Commandant, Mr. Tomar.

9. The petitioner had also claimed that the respondent had failed to comply and adhere to the stipulations mentioned in the Memorandum No.I-17015/12/Insts/APAR Cell/2010/-1007 dated 01.12.2014 and other similar instructions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs from time to time regarding preparation and maintenance