The validity of the Adhikari Pariksha certificate and its equivalence to a High School certificate, as well as the correct assessment of marks for qualifications and years of service, were central to the court's decision.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Abhishek Srivastava, learned Counsel for the respondents no. 1, 2 and 3.

2. This petition has been filed challenging the order dated 27.07.2020 and consequential communications dated 31.07.2020 and 11.09.2020 passed by the respondent Corporation.

3. It is the case of the petitioner that he was initially engaged as labourer on 14.10.1987. He was granted promotion as Patrol Man on 10.10.2003, and thereafter, granted promotion as Technical Grade-I on 16.05.2006 and the grade pay of TG-II, thereafter. The respondents have issued an Office Memorandum on 03.10.2018 proposing to make promotion from Combined Seniority List of all Distribution Companies and Transmission Companies of TG-II to the post of Junior Engineer. The Combined Seniority List prepared for this purpose for consideration of promotion to the post of Junior Engineer also had the name of the petitioner. The selection was carried out by the respondent no. 2, on the basis of marks awarded for High School, ITI/higher technical qualification and experience as given in the Office Memorandum. For High School 30 marks were to be awarded, for ITI/higher technical qualification 35 marks were to be awarded and for each year of service rendered as TG-II one mark was to be awarded up to the maximum of 35 marks. In pursuance of the selection held by the respondent no. 2, a select list was sent to the respondent no.1 on 03.03.2019 relating to 40% quota meant for promotion from the Feeder cader of TG-II, the petitioner's name found place in such select list and he was promoted on 04.03.2019, later on, the respondent no.2 communicated that certain complaints had been received and had re-examined the issue and it was found that the petitioner did not possess High School Certificate, and therefore, could not have been awarded 30 marks.

4. His selection was cancelled by the respondent no.2, consequently, a notice was issued to the petitioner on 28.08.2019 informing him of the decision of the respondent no.2 and the proposed cancellation of his promotion. The petitioner was asked to submit reply to the Show Cause Notice, which he submitted on 17.08.2019. The same was forwarded to the respondent No.2 for its comments. The respondent no. 2 by its letter dated 25.09.2019 informed that no fresh material had been supplied by the petitioner to review its earlier decision of cancellation of his selection as informed by it in its earlier letter dated 03.07.2019. The petitioner was called for personal hearing thereafter, on 08.11.2019, the petitioner's statement was recorded and his explanation was again sent to the respondent no.2 on 11.11.2019 for it's earlier comments The responded no.2 by its letter no. 2183 dated 11.12.2019 informed that its earlier decision given by its letter dated 25.09.2019 still stands and there was no reason to review it. Consequently, the petitioner's promotion was set aside with retrospective effect and a direction was also issued to recover the excess amount, if any, paid due to such promotion to the petitioner.

5. It has been submitted by the learner counsel for the petitioner that the order impugned has been passed only on the basis that Adhikari Pariksha Certificate, which the petitioner possessed was not equivalent to High School, and therefore, 30 marks had been wrongly given to the petitioner, however, this Court by a Full Bench decision rendered in Writ-A No. 48208 of 2012 on 09.10.2013 has provided that Adhikari Pariksha certificate issued by Gurukul Vishwavidyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura was valid up to the year 2008, as it was recognised by the U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education as equivalent to High School regardless of Gurukul having been declared a fake University by the UGC.

6. The learned counsel for the petitioner has also placed reliance upon judgement rendered by Coordinate Benches of this Court in various cases namely: Writ-A No. 56266 of 2013, (Nitendra Pratap Singh Vs.