The court held that the review order dated December 15, 1973, was a sham exercise since it did not properly consider the appellant's case in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision in Guman Singh's case. The court also held that the select list Ex. 6 prepared by the Departmental Promotion Committee held on September 21, 1966, was invalid for being contrary to the Rules.

Headnote:
SENIOR SCALE PROMOTION - RAJASTHAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE - SENIORITY-CUM-MERIT - MERIT - REVIEW - ARBITRARY EXERCISE - INVALIDITY - CONSEQUENTIAL BENEFITS - MONETARY RELIEF - RAJASTHAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE RULES, 1954 - RULE 28B(8).
Fact of the Case:

Appellant, an officer in the Rajasthan Administrative Service, challenged the selection process for promotion to the senior scale, alleging unequal treatment and violation of seniority-cum-merit principles. Despite being senior to several officers, he was not promoted until after they were. The appellant sought seniority over four officers (respondents) at every stage of his service career and consequential benefits.
Finding of the Court:

The court found that the appellant's grievance was genuine and that the review order dated December 15, 1973, which claimed to have reviewed his case, was a sham exercise. The court held that the appellant was entitled to be placed above the four respondents in the senior scale of the Rajasthan Administrative Service and at every subsequent stage of the service career.
Issues: 1. Whether the review order dated December 15, 1973, was a sham exercise and did not properly consider the appellant's case in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision in Guman Singh's case. 2. Whether the select list Ex. 6 prepared by the Departmental Promotion Committee held on September 21, 1966, was invalid for being contrary to the Rules. 3. Whether the appellant was entitled to be placed above the four respondents in the senior scale and at every subsequent stage of the service career, including promotion to the selection scale of the Rajasthan Administrative Service and appointment to the Indian Administrative Service.
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The court held that the review order dated December 15, 1973, was a sham exercise since it did not properly consider the appellant's case in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision in Guman Singh's case. The court found that the circular dated August 27, 1966, which had been quashed by the Supreme Court, was not taken into account in the review process. 2. The court held that the select list Ex. 6 prepared by the Departmental Promotion Committee held on September 21, 1966, was invalid for being contrary to the Rules. The court found that the list was implemented on February 21, 1970, while the appellant was given substantive appointment in the senior scale in December 1970. According to Rule 28-B(8) of the Rajasthan Administrative Service Rules, 1954, the appellant should have been placed above the four respondents in the senior scale. 3. The court held that the appellant was entitled to be placed above the four respondents in the senior scale and at every subsequent stage of the service career, including promotion to the selection scale of the Rajasthan Administrative Service and appointment to the Indian Administrative Service. The court found that the appellant was senior to the four respondents and that there was no rational basis for giving them a prior date of confirmation. The court also found that the appellant was not considered eligible for promotion to the selection scale in 1970 while the four respondents were, solely due to their prior date of confirmation.
Final Decision: The court allowed the appeal and directed the State Government to place the appellant above the four respondents in the senior scale of the Rajasthan Administrative Service and at every subsequent stage of the service career. The court also directed the State Government to give the appellant all the consequential monetary benefits resulting from this order within a period of three months. The appellant was also awarded a consolidated sum of Rs. 3,000/- as costs from the State Government.

JUDGMENT

1. 1. This litigation commenced in this Court more than twenty years back with the filing of a writ petition on March 3, 1967 by appellant Sumer Chand Bhandari, an officer of the Rajasthan Administrative Service, who was then in the junior scale, alleging unequal treatment in the matter of employment and promotion According to the Rules of this Court in existence till recently the writ petition was heard by a Single Judge who dismissed the same by an order dated September 30, 1975. In accordance with the provision contained in section 18 of the Rajasthan High Court Ordinance providing for an internal appeal, this appeal was then filed in 1975 and is now being disposed of by us. During this period the appellant's grievance has got aggravated at every stage of his service career resulting from his initial grievance that his juniors had been promoted to the senior scale in the Rajasthan Administrative Service before him; and this continued till his retirement from the Indian Administrative Service on December 31, 1983 on attaining the age of superannuation. The claim of the appellant now is reduced only to the monetary benefits if he succeeds to any extent in this litigation. This is not an isolated incident of its kind to reveal the resultant hardship to the litigants as a result of a writ petition being required by the earlier Rules to be heard in the first instance by a Single Bench and then on appeal by a Division Bench for the passage of the lis through one Court only.

2. The appellant argued his case in person before us. Embittered by the passage of time and the travails of the litigation taking so long and two stages to pass through one Court only, the appellant took some time at the hearing to confine himself, only to the relevant facts and points at this stage. However he showed remarkable adjustment to ultimately confine his case only to the real grievances which alone are material. We shall now state the only material facts relevant for deciding the limited controversy which survived at the end of the hearing before us.

3. The appellant has considerable academic distinction. He was appointed to the Rajasthan Administrative Service as a direct recruit in the junior scale in 1955 according to the Rajasthan Administrative Service Rules, 1954. A Departmental Promotion Committee was held on September 21, 1966 to select officers for promotion to the senior scale of Rajasthan Administrative Service. This Departmental Promotion Committee prepared two lists which were Ex. 3 dated December 7, 1966 selecting 29 persons and Ex. 2 dated January 4, 1967 selecting 15 persons for promotion to the senior scale. In addition a select list Ex. 6 of 21 persons was also prepared by this Departmental Promotion Committee which was given effect much later on February 21, 1970. It may be mentioned that the appellant's name was not included in any of these lists, while the names of many persons junior to him were included. This is the starting point of appellant's grievance.

4. We may also mention that selection to the senior scale was based on the principle of 'seniority-cum-merit' and also on the basis of 'merit' alone in the proportion of 2 : 1 according to the Rules, the validity of which has been upheld by the Supreme Court and is no longer in dispute. We shall omit reference to the facts relating to officers other than O.P. Joshi respondent No. 48, K.L. Kochar respondent No.49, D.N. Upadhyay respondent No.50 and K.M. Sahi respondent No. 61. Since the appellant confined his claim ultimately at the hearing to seniority over these four officers only at every stage commencing with the senior scale in the Rajasthan Administrative Service and the consequential benefits on that basis. In the writ petition filed on March 3, 1967 soon after the impugned selections made by the Departmental Promotion Committee held on September 21, 1965 and the appointments made on that basis challenge was made to the selections contained in all these three lis

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1987 Supreme(Raj) 830

RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT AT JAIPUR BENCHJagdish Sharan Verma, I.S.Israni, JJ.Sumer Chand Bhandari - AppellantVersusState of Rajasthan and Ors. - RespondentD.B. Special Appeal No. 193 of 1975.Decided On : 22-09-1987

Cases Referred (1)

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RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT AT JAIPUR BENCH
Jagdish Sharan Verma, I.S.Israni, JJ.
Sumer Chand Bhandari - Appellant
Versus
State of Rajasthan and Ors. - Respondent
D.B. Special Appeal No. 193 of 1975.
Decided On : 22-09-1987