CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL CHANDIGARH BENCH Chandigarh, Order Reserved: 19.01.2026 Pronounced: 24.02.2026 CORAM:

HON’BLE MR. RAMESH SINGH THAKUR, MEMBER (J)

HON’BLE MRS. ANJALI BHAWRA, MEMBER (A)

Akash Baliyan S/o Jitendra Kumar, aged 29 years, p resently w orking a s Accountant in the Office of Principal Accountant G eneral ( A&E), Sector-17, Chandigarh, R/o H.No.1470-A, Audit P ool C olony, S ector-

41B, Chandigarh. (Group-B).

...Applicant (By Advocate: Mr. Jagdeep Jaswal)

VERSUS

1. Comptroller and Auditor General of India, 10, B ahadur S hah Z afar Marg, New Delhi-110002.

2. The D irector General (Exam), Olo CAG, 10, B ahadur S hah Z afar Marg, New Delhi-110002.

3. The Principal Accountant General (A&E), P unjab, S ector-17, Chandigarh 160017.

4. Sr. Deputy Accountant General (Admin), O/o the P rincipal A ccountant General (A&E), Punjab Sector-17, Chandigarh 160017.

5. The S enior Accounts Officer, (Admin-III), O/o P rincipal A ccountant General (A&E), Punjab, Sector-17, Chandigarh 160017.

…Respondents (By Advocate: Mr. Barjesh Mittal)

O R D E R

Per: RAMESH SINGH THAKUR, MEMBER (J):

1. The present Original Application filed under S ection 1 9 o f t he Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 has been made a gainst t he f ollowing orders/for the following reliefs:-

“(i) Against Order dated 17.03.2025 (Annexure A-1) a nd o rder d ated 11.12.2024 (Annexure A-2) vide which the respondent N o.4 h as r ejected the representation submitted by the applicant for allowing h im t o a ppear i n

2026.03.02 the last left over paper of Subordinate Accounts Service ( SAS) E xamination

+05'30' to attain eligibility for promotion as Assistant Accounts O fficer ( AAO) o n t he

ground that he has not completed three years of service i n t he p resent

office, wrongly relying upon Para 9.2.6 of MSO (Admn) V olume 1 . T he impugned orders are arbitrary, whimsical, harsh, oppressive, r esult o f abuse of power and falls within the teeth of Article 14 & 1 6 o f C onstitution of India apart from the fact that the impugned o rders i tself a re non-speaking.

(ii) To issue directions to the respondents to permit the a pplicant t o a ppear in the PC-14 examination, being the last remaining paper o ut o f t he t otal 9 papers in the SAS examination, in order to clear the same a nd t o g rant h im promotion as AAO from due date at par with his b atch m ates w ith a ll consequential benefits, in the interest of justice.

(iii) That the issue raised in instant original application i s n o l onger res-Integra and has been settled by the Division Bench o f t his H on'ble Tribunal in the case of Amit Lather versus Comptroller a nd A uditor G eneral of India OA No.60/241/2019 decided on 18 12 2024 (Annexure A-13)

(iv) That claim of applicant is squarely covered by t he j udgment o f t his Hon'ble Tribunal in Amit Lather's case (supra) A nnexure A -13, a nd therefore, applicant respectfully prays for ad interim d irections t o t he respondents directing them that applicant may be allowed t o p articipate i n the SAS Examination provisionally, subject to final outcome o f t he p resent case.”

2. Facts of the case are as follows.The applicant j oined s ervice i n t he O/o Principal Accountant General (A&E), Meghalaya, S hillong o n 03.07.2015 as Data Entry Operator after qualifying t he d epartmental competitive examination. He successfully completed p robation o n 04.07.2017, as per Office Order dated 09.10.2017. T he a pplicant qualified t he Preliminary Test for Subordinate Accounts S ervice ( SAS) Examination, the result of which was declared on 3 1.05.2019. T he s aid examination was conducted on 06/07 May 2019.

3. For promotion to the post of Assistant Accounts O fficer ( AAO), a n employee is required to clear nine papers of the SAS M ain E xamination, divided into two groups:

Group-I: PC-1, PC-2, PC-3, PC-4, PC-5 Group-II: PC-8, PC-14, PC-16, PC-22

It is submitted that if an officer clears 50% papers i .e. 5 p apers i n a ny

of Group-I and II in six chances, then he gets four m ore c