1986 Supreme(Raj) 14
Rajasthan High Court
A. K. Mathur, J.
State of Rajasthan - Appellant
Versus
Narendra Singh Verma - Respondents
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1583
Decided On : January 09, 1986
B.R. Mehta Deputy Govt. Advocate for the State of Raj.; M. Mridul, for the Respondent Gulab Chand Sindal S.N. Sharma, for the Respondent Ami Lal.
Headnote:Rajasthan Civil Services (Civil Matters Appellate Tribunals) Act, 1976—Jurisdiction of Civil Services Tribunal—Sec. 2(f)—"Service Matter"—Promotion, confirmation and pecuniary benefits——depends on Annual Performance Appraisal.
2. For the appreciation of controversy facts of S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1583 of 1979 State of Rajasthan and another Vs. Narendra Singh Verma and others are taken into consideration. The petitioner by this writ petition has challenged the orders of the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal, Rajasthan, Jaipur, dated, 15th January, 1979 (Annexure-4), 2nd April, 1979 (Annexure-6). The appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 was holding the post of Second-in-Command in Border Home Guards at Bikaner with effect from 8th October, 1977 under the control of the Battalion Commandant Shri D. Ramde-sani. While working under D. Ramdesani an adverse report was given to the appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 and the same were communicated to him by the Reviewing Officer, the Deputy Director Home Guards, Rajasthan, Jaipur vide its letter dated 30th May. 1978. The appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 submitted his representation against this adverse report, but the same was rejected and the decision was communicated to the appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 on 1st August, 1978. Aggrieved against this the appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 preferred an appeal before the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal, Jaipur.
3. A preliminary objection was raised before the Tribunal that the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain such matters. The Tribunal considered this objection at great length and ultimately came to the conclusion by its order dated 15th January, 1979 that it has jurisdiction to entertain appeal against the rejection of the representation against the adverse entries in the Annual Performance Appraisal. Thereafter on merits also the Tribunal found that the adverse remarks against the appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 has not been correctly recorded and thereby it accepted the appeal and expunged the adverse remarks against the appellant-non-petitioner No. 1 in the Annual Performance Appraisal for the year 1977-78. The State of Rajasthan, petitioner No. 1 herein, has preferred this writ petition and specifically raised the question that the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain such appeals.
4. My answer to this question is in affirmative. The Tribunal has jurisdiction to entertain appeals against the rejection of representation against the adverse entries recorded in the Annual Performance Appraisal. In this connection it would be proper to reproduce sec. 2(f) of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Service Matters Appellate Tribunals) Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) as under :
"S. 2(f) "Servee matter" means any one or more than one of the following matters relating to a Government servant :-
(i) Seniority;
(ii) Promotion;
(iii) Confirmation;
(iv) Fixation of pay ;
(v) An order denying or varying pay, allowances, pension and other service conditions to the disadvantage of a Government servant, otherwise than as a penalty;
(vi) Cases of revision while officiating in a higher service, grade or post otherwise than as a penalty ;
(vii) Withholding the pension or denying the maximum pension otherwise than as a penalty ;
(viii) Any other matter notified by the Government."
Before I deal with this, it may also be useful to refer to the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the same are reproduced as under :
"The proposal to constitute Administrative Tribunals to decide service matters was under consideration of the State Government for long time. Service matters are broadly of two types : One type relating to disciplinary proceedings and the other relating to the rules of recruitment and other conditions of service. So far as the disciplinary matters are concerned, the Classification, Control and Appeal Rules make provisions for Departmental appeal or review. As regards the other service matters, the present practice is only of making a representation to the Government. In both the cases an aggrieved Government