Legality of the Govt of India Promotion Policy for the purpose of promotion to J.E.G. Scale IV.

All these writ petitions have been filed by the petitioner who is now working as Deputy General Manager in the State Bank of India, hereinafter called "the Bank" and the crux of the issue raised in all these writ petitions is non-promotion of the petitioner.

2. In W.P.No.8732 of 2000, he has prayed for the issue of a writ of mandamus to promote him as Deputy General Manager with retrospective effect from the year 1988-89 on par with A.K.Purwar (the fourth respondent) and all further promotion thereon with consequential benefits.

3. In W.P.No.8733 of 2000 he has prayed for the issue of a writ of declaration declaring the promotion policy of S.B.I. for the purpose of promotion to TEG Scale VI, namely from Deputy General Manager and above, as illegal and void more particularly Clause IV(C) of the said policy as violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

4. In W.P.Nos.8642 of 2002, he has sought for the issue of a writ of mandamus to ensure that ACR/Annual Appraisal of the petitioner for the year 2001-2002 is not written by Mr.S.C.Das, General Manager (fourth respondent) or any other officer attached to the Local Head Office at Chennai or be reviewed by R.C.Sharma, Chief General Manager, and only by independent, fair-minded superior officers at the Bank's Central office.

5. In W.P.No.19576 of 2002 writ of mandamus is sought for to direct the respondents to consider the petitioner for promotion in the cadre of General Manager.

6. Elaborate arguments were heard at two different stages namely, at the first stage when W.P.Nos.8732 and 8733 of 2000 were heard and orders stood reserved. While so, the petitioner being aggrieved by the subsequent development of his not being considered for the ensuing promotion for the year 2001-2002, had come forward with the last two writ petitions which were also clubbed together along with the first two writ petitions considering that there were several common issues. Pleadings by both sides have also been presented in an elaborate manner running to several pages and it is not necessary to deal with all the allegations and the minute details raised by both sides except for reference as may be required. It will be sufficient to condense and summarise the pleadings and submissions as follows:-

7. The petitioner joined the services of the Bank in the year 1966 as a Clerk. After successfully completing the examinations (C.A.I.I.B.), was directly recruited as Probationary Officer in 1968. After completion of Probation he was placed in the cadre of Junior Management-Grade I. Subsequently, he earned his promotion as Staff Officer-Grade -III. The petitioner has also given various details regarding the excellence of his performance in various capacities and different spheres which according to him is duly recognised and appreciated by his superiors. He was posted in several sensitive areas in recognition of his superior performance. He was posted as Second Accountant in Jabalpur branch and then as Branch Manager in Hoshanga at Madhya Pradesh. He was put in complete charge of the branch which position was given to him only in recognition of his meritorious service. Then he became the Area Superintendent in the Head Office at Bhopal and he was posted as Development Officer in charge of Performance and Personnel, and Institutional banking. Subsequently, bearing in mind his performance and knowledge in Foreign Exchange, he was specifically posted as Development Manager, notwithstanding the fact that he was only in the cadre of middle Management -Grade III. He was selected for International Banking in Australia and deputed to the then National Bank, Australia, Melbourne. He was subsequently posted at Singapore branch of State Bank of India.

8. On return from the said foreign assignments he was promoted to next higher grade of Senior Manager-scale IV on 8.10.1981 at the age of 37 years and posted to Behrain branch as Internal Auditor. On 1.8.1994, he was promoted as Assistant General Manage