CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL CHENNAI BENCH Dated Friday the 13^th day of March Two Thousand Twenty Six CORAM: HON'BLE MR. M. SWAMINATHAN, Member (J)

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HON'BLE MR. M. L. SRIVASTAVA, Member (A D.Kannan, S/o. S. Durairaj, No.5-22-55, Karuppaih Street, T. S. Nagar, Madurai Road, Aruppukottai, Virdhunagar District - 626 101. …. Applicant By Advocate M/s. R. Malaichamy Vs

1. Union of India, Rep. by the Secretary, Ministry of Communication, Department of Posts, Dak Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi - 110 001.

2. The Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu Circle, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 002.

3. The Postmaster General, Southern Region (TN), Madurai - 625 002.

4. The Senior Superintendent of Post offices, Virudhunagar Division, Virdhunagar - 626 001. ...Respondents By Advocate Mr. Su. Srinivasan, SCGSC

ORAL ORDER

(Pronounced by Hon'ble Mr. M. Swaminathan, Member (J))

The applicant has filed this OA praying for the following relief:

“i) To call for the records of the 4^th respondent pertaining to his order which is made No. B/201 dated 20.05.2025 and set aside the same, consequent to;

ii) direct the respondents to promote applicant to the cadre of Postal Assistant at par with the candidates selected and appointed through LDCE held on 15.09.2013 with all attended benefits including monetary benefits; and, iii) To pass such further or other orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper”.

2. Brief facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant:

The applicant is working as Postal Assistant in the 4th respondent division. He appeared for LDCE for promotion to the cadre of PA on 15.09.2013 by virtue of interim order granted on 13.09.2013 by this Hon'ble Tribunal. The 2nd respondent published the result of the said examination on 24.02.2014. The applicant immediately represented to the 4th respondent on 26.02.2014 for supply of marks awarded to him in the said exam and the 4th respondent in response directed the applicant to submit application through RTI Act vide his letter dated 07.03.2014 to receive copy of marks of the answer papers. The 2nd respondent also through Assistant Postmaster General (Rectt.) invited RTI application for supply of answer papers along with required fee vide his letter 24.02.2014 at para 14. Then the applicant submitted application under RTI Act with required fee to the 4th respondent on 05.04.2014 i.e. within two months from the date of publication of the result and it was admitted by the 3rd and 4th respondents, but not supplied may be on the reason that the OA No.1172 of 2013 was pending adjudication. The said OA No.1172 of 2013 was dismissed by an order dated 07.04.2016 not on merit but on the submission of false marks statement of the applicant before this Hon'ble Tribunal On coming to know of the order dated 07.04.2016, the applicant submitted another application dated 23.01.2017 under RTI Act, but it was replied that the preservation period for answer paper is one year and revealed the predetermined attitude of the respondent 3 and 4 to disqualify the applicant through backdoor method. Therefore, the applicant submitted a detailed representation dated 03.03.2025 to the respondents and requested to declare him qualified in the said exam and advance his promotion to the cadre of Postal Assistant at par with the other candidates promoted to the said post based on LDCE held on 15.09.2013. The 4th respondent on receipt of the representation dated 03.03.2025 rejected the claim of the applicant stating that this Hon'ble Court found the applicant as unqualified in the said examination vide order dated 07.04.2016 in OA No.1172 of 2013. Had the respondents 3 and 4 supplied the OMR answer papers to the applicant then the truth would come to light but sheltered into the preservation period and the order of this Hon'ble Tribunal dated 07.04.2016 in order to stick on their stand to disqualify the applicant arbitrarily and illegally on the reason that the applicant got appointment to the post of Postman by approaching this Hon'