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IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
JIYA LAL BHARDWAJ
Vikrant Bonsra – Appellant
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
Jiya Lal Bhardwaj, J.
By way of present writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for quashing an office order dated 20.12.2014 (Annexure P-13), passed by respondent No.2, whereby his representation to consider him for promotion to the post of Inspector of Police w.e.f. 31.10.2014 has been rejected.
2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was appointed as Sub Inspector with respondent No.2 in the year 2008 and had joined his duties on 01.01.2009.
3. The petitioner being eligible for promotion to the post of Inspector of Police was considered by the Departmental Promotion Committee (hereinafter to be referred as “DPC”), convened on 22, 27 & 28.10.2014.
4. As per the proceedings of the DPC, the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) for the period from 01.04.2009 to 31.03.2014 were considered. The DPC had awarded 2.5 marks for every completed year of service and decided to award ½ marks for the quarter of a year to all candidates, whose length of service involved such a period. Since the promotions are to be made on the principle of merit-cum- seniority, the DPC had decided to reduce one mark of average ACR. The name of the petitioner was
Uncommunicated 'average' ACRs cannot adversely impact promotion under merit-cum-seniority; must be communicated for representation, else ignored as violative of Article 14 and natural justice princip....
Uncommunicated ACR entries violate the right to fair representation under Article 14 of the Constitution, necessitating communication of all gradings to public servants for promotion processes.
Denial of promotion based on non-communicated below benchmark ACRs violates Article 14, and such non-communication is arbitrary and illegal.
Point of Law : Communication of entries in the ACRs and giving opportunity to represent against them is particularly important in higher posts which are in a pyramidical structure where often the pri....
Non-communication of performance remarks in ACRs violates natural justice and can adversely affect promotion eligibility, necessitating expungement of such remarks.
Uncommunicated ACR gradings below promotion benchmark ('good' vs 'very good') cannot be considered and must be deemed as meeting benchmark; renders decisions arbitrary violating Art.14 and natural ju....
Communication of aCRs within a reasonable period is crucial for fairness and transparency in public administration, as established in Dev Dutt and Sukhdev Singh.
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