JUDGEMENT

MANOJ JAIN, J

1. Petitioner Nigude Ashok Dasharath & 16 others have filed Writ Petition 3445/2020 with the following prayer: -

(i) Issue a writ of certiorari for quashing the orders dated 03.02.2020 to the extent that the petitioners have not been considered for grant of NFSG despite fulfilling all the conditions as laid down by the above OMs and by wrong calculation of Senior Duty Post;

(ii) Issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to calculate 30% of Senior Duty Post properly by including the posts held by Assistant Commandants already granted to STS (Grade Pay 6600/-) as well as post held by IPS for calculation of Senior Duty Post (SDP) and thereafter consider the petitioners for grant of NFSG and if found eligible then grant the same to the petitioners from the dates as shown in the above table in the petition with all consequential benefits;

(iii) Issue a writ of mandamus to enhance ceiling of Senior Duty Post (SDP) from 30% to 100% as a one-time measure to address acute stagnation to left out Second-in-Command (2ICs) those who are not covered by counting AC (STS) if any, and grant them NFSG with consequential benefits.

2. Two more Writ Petitions i.e. WP (C) No. 11991/2022 and WP (C) No. 4308/2022 were filed and it was brought to the notice of this Court that issues raised in these writ petitions were common and since the pleadings in WP (C) 3445/2020 were already complete, with the consent of the learned counsel for parties, said writ petition i.e. WP (C) 3445/2020 was treated as lead matter.

3. Petitioners are Second-in-Command (2IC) in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), posted in different locations across the country.

4. They are primarily agitated with the manner of calculation for the purpose of grant of benefit of Non-Functional Selection Grade (NFSG).

5. We need not emphasize that NFSG is intended to mitigate the rigors of stagnation to which these officers may be exposed for want of adequate number of posts in the higher grade.

6. There are two issues which have been raised in the present Writ Petition.

7. Firstly, the manner of calculation of 30% of Senior Duty Post (SDP).

8. It is not in dispute that, presently, the number of posts in NFSG is required to be equal to 30% of Senior Duty Post, CRPF being Organized Group A Service. The grievance of the petitioners is that while calculating the ‘Senior Duty Post’, respondents have left out Assistant Commandants (STS) as well as the posts held by IPS and, therefore, percentage of eligible officers stands reduced drastically.

9. Secondly, they pray for increase of such percentage to 100%, as a one-time measure.

10. It is stated that some of the officers are already in their 18th & 19th year of service and are facing stagnation whereas their counterparts, recruited through the same competitive examination and who are even junior to them and serving in other paramilitary forces, have already been given the benefit of NFSG and, therefore, keeping in mind the aforesaid position of stagnation, ceiling of Senior Duty Post be increased from 30% to 100% as a one-time measure. It is also contended that in most of the Organized Group A Services, the Senior Duty Post (SDP) are approximately 60% to 85% of total cadre strength, in CRPF, whereas it is approximately 45% only and thus more than 300 Second-in-Command (2ICs) including Petitioners have been are deprived of NFSG even after fulfilling all eligible criteria.

11. Thus, it needs to be seen as to who is covered under ‘Senior Duty Post’ and whether petitioners have been able to demonstrate that ceiling of Senior Duty Post should be increased to 100% as a one-time measure.

12. According to respondents, there is no error in the method and manner of calculation and, therefore, the Writ Petition deserves to be dismissed. It is argued that there are several petitioners who do not even fulfil the primary mandatory criteria and, therefore, even otherwise they are not eligible for grant of NFSG. As