The court's decision was influenced by the interpretation of the seniority list and the implications of promotions made pursuant to LDCE for the year 2021-22, highlighting the importance of adhering to established law and ensuring fairness in the determination of eligibility and seniority.

JUDGMENT

V. Kameswar Rao, J. (Oral)--The challenge in this petition is to an interim order dated June 30, 2023 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (`Tribunal', for short) in Original Application NO. 1729/2023 (`OA', for short) whereby the Tribunal has stated as under:

"Learned counsel for R-2 and 3 submits that he has already filed the reply. Even though it may be a short reply, he submits that the same may be adopted as a reply to the OA. Learned counsel for the applicant seeks and is allowed a time of one week to file rejoinder.

Mr. S.N. Verma, learned counsel for Union of India which is represented through both the Ministry of Personnel and Ministry of Agriculture, submits that no separate reply is required to be filed on behalf of Union of India. However, they shall be providing necessary inputs to the Ministry of Agriculture to enable them to file reply, if they so wish. Learned counsel for R-2 seeks and is allowed liberty to file a supplementary reply, if situation so warrants, after obtaining the necessary inputs.

Learned counsel for the private respondents assures that he shall be filing reply within ten days. He further submits that he is separately filing another MA seeking impleadment of ten other persons as respondents in the OA since they names also figure in the impugned seniority list and their interests are also involved.

Rejoinder, if any, may be filed within one week thereafter. Meanwhile, learned counsel for the applicant prays for consideration of his prayer for interim relief which reads as under:

That DR Batch of Assistant of year 2017 be restrained from being considered against the vacancies in the LDCE or Section Officer for that the year 2021 & 2022 (in pursuance of Notice dated 29.11.2022 & 24.3.2023).

And/or

Any other relief which this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper may also awarded to the applicant.

He argues that in terms of the order of this Tribunal in OA No. 1545/2020 dated 12.07.2022, the balance of convenience is in favour of the applicants as the eligibility of the private respondents as also several others for LDCE has been determined on the basis of seniority list which has been drawn in contravention to the established law affirmed by the order of this Tribunal, referred to above.

Learned counsel for R-2 and 3 vehemently opposes submitting that the seniority list is strictly drawn in accordance with the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. Civil Appeal No. 7514-7515/2005 in the case of N.R. Parmar v/s Union of India & Others.

To support his opposition, learned counsel places before us a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Hariharan vs. Harsh Vardhan Rao in SLP (C) No. 16161/2018 dated 14.12.2022 which has in detail discussed the implication of K. Meghachandra Singh and Ors. Vs. Ningani Sire and Ors. Civil Appeal No. 8833-8835/2019 case which had modified the N.R. Parmar (supra) judgment.

Learned counsel for the private respondents submits that in view of his assurance to file reply very shortly, the consideration of the prayer for interim relief may be deferred till his reply is taken on record.

Learned counsel for R-2 and 3 further argues that it appears that the Tribunal is inclined to favourably consider the prayer for interim relief and in such an event, it may be restricted to a direction that the promotions made pursuant to LDCE for the year 2021-22 will be subject to the outcome of the OA.

Learned counsel for the private respondents adds that if the prayer for interim relief is considered besides the present private respondents, bona fide interests of several other persons may also be affected.

I have given a patient hearing to the learned counsel on the limited question of interim relief as set forth in para 9. I have also gone through the relevant documents on record.

Eligibility for participation in LDCE is 5 years of regular service. Accordingly, in the present case, it is Assistants recruited in the year 2017 who have participated for LDCE for vacan