High Court of Punjab and HaryanaCWP/9266/2021disposed of

Mohit Khanna v. Chandigarh Housing Board And Others

2023-11-24Mr. Justice Harsh Bunger18 pages

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA

AT CHANDIGARH CWP-9266 of 2021 (O&M) Date of decision : 24.11.2023 MOHIT KHANNA

...Petitioner

Versus

THE CHANDIGARH HOUSING BOARD, SECTOR 9-D, CHANDIGARH THROUGH ITS SECRETARY AND OTHERS

...Respondents

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSH BUNGER Present :

Mr. Dharam Vir Sharma, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Chinmay Pratap, Advocate and Ms. Pooja Yadav, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms. Madhu Dayal, Advocate for respondents No.1 and 2.

Mr. Ravinder Rana, Advocate for respondents No.4 and 5.

HARSH BUNGER, J.

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No.

Name of Official Qualification Date of Birth Date of appointment as Junior Engineer Date of completion of requisite service Sh.

Yash Pal Batra, AE Diploma 27.01.1966 06.02.1989 05.02.1999 Sh.

Sanjeev Kumar, AE Diploma/AMIE 21.12.1965 23.03.1989 22.03.1994 Sh.

Abnesh Kumar Dadwal, AE Diploma 26.05.1970 11.05.1992 10.05.2002 Sh.

Ashok Kumar Singla, AE Diploma 10.07.1969 15.05.1992 15.05.2002 Sh.

Vijay Kumar, A.E.

(PH) Diploma (SC) 28.08.1969 14.05.1992 14.05.2002 Sh.

Mohit Khanna, A.E.

(PH) Diploma/AMIE 29.05.1973 18.12.1992 18.12.1997 Sh.

Mohit Handa, A.E.

(PH) Diploma 08.03.1971 18.12.1992 18.12.2002 Sh.

Rakesh Kumar Popli A.E. (PH) Diploma 01.10.1967 18.12.1992 18.12.2002 Sh.

Krishan Gopal, A.E.

(PH) Diploma 28.08.1967 29.06.2005 29.06.2015 Sh. Rajiv Kumar A.E. (PH) Diploma 02.04.1967 29.06.2005 29.06.2015 434 435 """ """ """ 433 "8)

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Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Outstanding Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Outstanding Accepted - 3.

01.04.2017 to 22.08.2017 23.08.2017 to 31.03.2018 - 4.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Very Good Accepted - 5.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Outstanding Accepted - TOTAL "3 (/( +0<); Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted - Outstanding - Accepted NRC obtained Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2006 to 31.03.2007 Good Accepted - 2.

01.04.2007 to 31.03.2008 Good Accepted - 3.

01.04.2008 to 31.03.2009 Very Good Reported NRC obtained - 4.

01.04.2009 to 31.03.2010 Good Reported NRC obtained - 5.

01.04.2010 to 31.03.2011 Good Accepted - 6.

01.04.2011 to 29.02.2012 Good Reported NRC obtained - 7.

01.04.2012 to 31.03.2013 Good Reviewed - 8.

01.04.2013 to 31.03.2014 Outstanding Reported NRC obtained - 9.

01.04.2014 to 09.03.2015 Outstanding Reported NRC obtained - 10.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Very Good Reported NRC obtained - 11.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Very Good Accepted 12.

01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018 Very Good Reported NRC obtained - 13.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Average Accepted 14.

01.04.2019 to 09.05.2019 10.05.2019 to 21.11.2019 25.11.2019 to 31.03.2020 - - 1.5 TOTAL 13.5 7 7J( K 8 - 0 !

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Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Outstanding Accepted - 2.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Outstanding Accepted - 3.

01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018 Outstanding Accepted - 4.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Very Good Accepted - 5.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Very Good Accepted - TOTAL "3 (//>(

; Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Outstanding Accepted - 2.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Outstanding Accepted - 3.

01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018 Outstanding Accepted - 4.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Very Good Accepted - 5.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Very Good Accepted - TOTAL "3 (/7 +5<); Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2014 to 31.03.2015 Good Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Average Reviewed - 3.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Very Good Accepted - 4.

01.04.2017 to 13.10.2017 14.10.2017 to 28.11.2017 29.11.2017 to 31.03.2018 1.5 - 5.

01.04.2018 to 03.07.2018 04.07.2018 to 31.03.2019 Good Very Good Accepted Accepted - - 1.5 6.

01.04.2019 to 31.07.2019 01.08.2019 to 31.03.2020 Good Very Good Accepted Accepted - - 1.5 TOTAL 13.5 7 # + (

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; Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2014 to 31.03.2015 Very Good Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Very Good Reviewed - 3.

01.04.2016 to 28.10.2016 29.10.2016 to 20.02.2017 1.5 4.

01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018 - - Suspension period - N.A.

Very Good - Accepted NRC obtained 5.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Very Good Accepted - 6.

01.04.2019 to 09.05.2019 10.05.2019 to 31.03.2020 TOTAL 13.5 7 @ K 8 - 0 # #

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Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted - Very Good - Accepted Less than 3 months - Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Outstanding Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Outstanding Accepted - 3.

01.04.2017 to 22.08.2017 23.08.2017 to 31.03.2018 - 4.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Outstanding Accepted 5.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Very Good Accepted TOTAL "3 (/3+/<) ; Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted N.A.

Outstanding - Accepted NRC obtained Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2014 to 31.03.2015 Very Good Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Very Good Reviewed - 3.

01.04.2016 to 28.10.2016 29.10.2016 to 31.03.2017 - 1.5 4.

01.04.2017 to 14.12.2017 15.12.2017 to 30.01.2018 31.01.2018 to 31.03.2018 - Very Good - Accepted NRC obtained Very Good - - Accepted - - - Less than 3 months --do-- - - 5.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Very Good Accepted - 6.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Very Good Accepted - TOTAL 15.5

"3 (/< / 8; Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2014 to 31.03.2015 Very Good Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Good Reviewed - 3.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 Good Accepted - 4.

01.04.2017 to 22.08.2017 23.08.2017 to 31.03.2018 1.5 5.

01.04.2018 to 31.03.2019 Very Good Accepted - 6.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Very Good Accepted - TOTAL 14.5 "3 (/3+0<); Sr. No.

Period Grading Reported/ reviewed/ Accepted N.A.

Very Good - Accepted NRC obtained Remarks Evaluation 1.

01.04.2014 to 31.03.2015 Outstanding Reviewed - 2.

01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016 Outstanding Reviewed - 3.

01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017 N.A.

- NRC obtained 4.

01.04.2017 to 31.03.2018 Very Good Accepted - 5.

01.04.2018 to 03.07.2018 04.07.2018 to 31.03.2019 Outstanding Very Good Accepted Accepted - - 1.5 6.

01.04.2019 to 31.03.2020 Very Good Accepted - TOTAL 17.5 431 *!

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:(? 0 " Para 6.2.1 of DPC guidelines read with the Chandigarh Administration, Department of Personnel Instructions issued vide No.34/23/94-IH(7)-2009/9380 dated 12.05.2009 (as referred in para 480 in the above extracted decision), the assessment of each candidate is to be carried out on the basis of evaluation of the Confidential Reports (in short `the CRs') for 5 preceding years and the minimum bench mark is 12 marks. Para 6.2.1 of the DPC guidelines clearly provides that in the case of non-rendition of the CRs for one or more years, then the DPC has to consider the confidential reports of the years preceding the period of five years and if in any case even these are not available then the DPC can even consider the confidential reports of the lower grade for evaluation/assessment of the candidate on the profile of 5 confidential reports.

22.

Para 6.2.1 of the DPC guidelines does not in any manner enunciate the expansion of the reckonable period to the past CRs to the extent only to make the candidate achieve the minimum benchmark requirement of 12 marks.

23.

;

" )0 ' :(? in the case of respondent no. 4 (Sanjeev Kumar), the CRs of seven preceding years (by excluding the years where confidential reports have not been rendered in respect of respondent no. 4) have been considered to achieve the bench mark of 12 marks, to make the respondent No. 4 eligible for promotion by the said DPC. Whereas, if the Confidential Report's evaluation of respondent no. 4 based upon service records in preceding 5 years (by excluding the assessment years in which NRC is obtained) is seen; then the reckonable period (going backwards) would be

from the year 2019-2020 to the year 2010-2011, wherein five CRs were available and evaluated. By considering the five CRs backward, starting from 2019-20 upto 2010-11, the evaluation of respondent No.4 would come to 9.5 marks, which is clearly below the benchmark of 12 marks. Therefore, it appears that as regards respondent No.4, the evaluation for the period 2006-07 and 2007-08 have been included with the object to make respondent No.4 reach the benchmark of 12 marks, so as to make him eligible for promotion.

Similar position appears to be as regards Vijay Kumar as well. 24.

Another factor which needs to be noticed here is that while taking note of the gist of the ACRs as regards respondent No.4, it is mentioned that the Chandigarh Housing Board has imposed the minor penalty to withhold increment of pay without cumulative effect for one year upon Sh. Sanjeev Kumar (respondent No.4); however, the period of afore-said one year is not forthcoming.

25.

The afore-said factors would result in a cascading effect on the impugned promotion order dated 22.04.2021 (Annexure P-24), especially in view of the observation made above that the respondent no. 4 did not meet the benchmark of 12 marks in the reckonable preceding 5 CRs. Consequently, in my considered view, the assessment/evaluation of the candidates [Junior Engineer/Assistant Engineer/Draftsmen (PH)] coming within the zone of consideration for promotion to the post of Sub Divisional Engineer (PH), would require relook and reconsideration by the said DPC by way of conducting a review DPC.

Ordered accordingly.

26.

In view of the above discussion and the directions for review

DPC, the impugned promotion order dated 22.04.2021 (Annexure P-24) is hereby set aside. Consequently, the respondents are directed to review the proceedings of the DPC which shall be conducted within a period of six months from the date of receipt / presentation of certified copy of this order. 27.

The instant petition is accordingly disposed of in the afore-stated terms.

28.

All pending application/s, if any, shall stand closed. November 24, 2023 (HARSH BUNGER) gurpreet JUDGE Whether speaking/reasoned:

Yes/No Whether reportable:

Yes/No