JUDGEMENT

JYOTI SINGH, J. (ORAL)

CM APPL. 2786/2021 (urgent hearing)

1. Present application has been preferred on behalf of the Petitioner seeking early hearing of the writ petition.

2. In view of the fact that the matter is being heard today, application has been rendered infructuous.

3. Application is disposed of as infructuous.

W.P.(C) 11516/2017

4. Present writ petition has been filed by the Petitioner seeking a direction to the Respondent to upgrade the existing gradings in the Annual Confidential Reports (‘ACRs’) for the years 2014, 2015 and

2016 with respect to Columns No. ‘6’ and ‘8’ in the 2014 ACR and Columns No. ‘5’, ‘6’ and ‘8’ in 2015 and 2016 ACRs, after expunging the existing gradings/remarks therein. Mandamus is also sought by the Petitioner to direct the Respondent to grant promotion to the post of Judicial Assistant with all consequential benefits at par with his batch.

5. Narrative of facts captured in the writ petition is that Petitioner is an Ex-serviceman, who served the Indian Air Force for 15 years and took pre-mature retirement in the year 2000, on account of his medical condition. He joined the Respondent i.e. District and Sessions Judge (HQs), Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi on 26.06.2003 as a Lower Division Clerk and started working as an Assistant Ahlmad.

6. Petitioner avers that in his 14 years of service, he has dedicatedly performed his duties to the best of his ability and had the privilege of working under Senior Judicial Officers. Till March, 2014, Petitioner had high gradings in his ACRs and no show cause notice or memorandum was ever issued to him. Save and except, for few ‘Average’ gradings, in most of his ACRs, Petitioner was graded ‘Good’/‘Very Good’ by his superiors over a period of 12 years. Petitioner was granted first financial upgradation under the MACP Scheme in 2013, on completion of 10 years of unblemished service.

7. Despite this background profile over a decade, Petitioner was initially graded ‘Below Average’/‘Poor’ in some Columns in 3 consecutive ACRs for the years 2014 to 2016, while he was working as Ahlmad in the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Courts. Detailed chart of the gradings/remarks for the said period, as brought forth in the writ petition is as follows:-

8. It is further averred that no show cause notice or memorandum was issued to the Petitioner in the relevant period and there were no complaints of incompetency or laxity in his work or conduct. For the first time, vide letter dated 05.05.2015, Respondent’s Office communicated the adverse grading/remark recorded in Column Nos. 6 and 8 pertaining to ‘manners and power to work with others’ and ‘Integrity’ in the 2014 ACR, wherein the grading in Column No. 6 was ‘Below Average’ and ‘Average’ in Column No. 8 pertaining to Integrity with a remark ‘some oral complaints’. Treating the ACR to be adverse, Petitioner was given liberty to file a representation, if he so desired.

9. In response to the letter dated 05.05.2015, Petitioner made a detailed representation dated 13.05.2015, explaining that he had always dedicatedly completed the entire pending work assigned to him, including the pending work of the erstwhile Ahlmad, who had left without even completing the Goshwara Register for the period