Renu Gupta v. State Of Punjab And ORS
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'% # "xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx We have heard counsel for the parties and it is their common case that the service condition of the petitioner and respondent No.5 are governed by the "Punjab Civil Services (General and Common Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994 (hereinafter called 'the Rules) Rule 8 of the Rules determines the inter*se* seniority of the members of the service. According to his rule, the seniority inter*se of persons appointed to posts in each cadre of a service shall be determined by the length of continuous service on such post in that cadre of the service. In the case before us, the petitioner was appointed on regular basis on 16.10.1987, whereas respondent No.5 was made regular with effect from 27.3.1989. Since the petitioner has been working in the department on regular basis for a longer period, she will be deemed to be senior to respondent No.5. The respondents are therefore, in
[3] error in ignoring her claim in the matter of grant of selection grade.
In view of the matter, we have no hesitation in allowing the writ petition and directing the respondents to consider the claim of petitioner for grant of selection grade with effect from the date when it was granted to respondent No.5.
We order accordingly.
The respondents are directed to undertake the exercise and complete the same within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. There will be no order as to costs."
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"3.4 "Method of Appointment"
Recruitment to the service shall be made according to the norms as shown in Appendix 'A' of these rules. Provided that in case suitable candidate is not available for recruitment by the method mentioned in Appendix 'A' appointment to the service shall be made by following procedure:*
[4] (a) By transfer from other DRDAs, Autonomous Bodies, Corporations, Boards, Institutions in Punjab State or (b) On deputation from the Government Departments. Sr.No.
Name of Post Mode of recruitment Education Qualification or experience required 5.
Accountant 2/3rd by promotion From amongst the Clerks with minimum 5 years experience in the Agency.
1/3rd by direct recruitment Having degree in B.Com.
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3.6 Departmental Examination:* Every member of the service unless he has already done so shall pass such departmental examination as may be prescribed by the Govt. for such posts from time to time.
3.13 Promotion:* All promotions to the posts in service shall be made on the basis of merit*cum*seniority and no persons shall have a right to promotion to any post on the basis of seniority alone."
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<# #*5 "18. Promotion to Group A' and Group 'B' Services. (a) xxx (b) xxx (c) For promotion to post falling in Group 'B'
the minimum benchmark will be 'Good' and there shall be no supersession on the basis of merit."
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+'0% "i) All Cases pertaining to promotion as Head of the Department would be decided on the basis of merit*cum* seniority. The benchmark for promotion to such posts will be 'Very Good' and the officer graded as 'Outstanding' would rank senior to those graded as 'Very Good'.
ii) For promotion to posts falling in Group 'A' with existing pay scales of Rs.12000*16350 and above the benchmark will be 'Very Good' and officers graded as 'Outstanding' would rank senior to those graded as 'Very Good'.
iii) In the case of promotion to posts with pay scales less than Rs.12000*16350, the bench mark will be 'Good'. This benchmark will determine fitness of the officer and person graded 'Very Good' or 'Outstanding' will not supersede persons graded 'Good'.
iv) Henceforth each Annual Confidential Report will be evaluated as under:* 'Outstanding 4 marks 'Very Good 3 marks 'Good'
2 marks 'Average 1 marks.
ACRs for 5 years are taken into consideration for promotion. Out of a total of 20 marks, officers earning 10 to 14 marks will be graded overall 'Good' and those earning 15 to 17 marks will be graded overall 'Very Good'. Those earning 18 to 20 marks will be graded as 'Outstanding Departmental Promotion Committee while considering reports which are 'Outstanding' must have been out of the ordinary and reasons for giving grading must be cogent and well spelt out, to be accepted as 'Outstanding'. If the ACR does not fulfill the
[7] above criteria, the entry of 'Outstanding', should be read as 'Very Good' only an officer will not be fit for promotion if he is rated ' below average' in any one of the 5 years. All cases of promotion to posts In Group 'A and B' will fall within the purview of Departmental Promotion Committee. As required under circular letter No. 4044*5 GS*61/23179, dated 28th June, 1961, a panel of 3 suitable officers will be prepared if there is one post, 4 if there are two posts and 5 if there are 3 posts and so on when one officer out of the three in the panel is considered suitable for a vacancy, the remaining two officers will be considered for the next vacancy alongwith the 4th officer in the seniority list.
3. It is, therefore requested that where the promotion is to be made to the posts covered by the Punjab Services (Appointment by Promotion) Rules, 1962 or where there is specific provision in the service rules regarding promotion on the basis of merit*cum*seniority, the above procedure shall be meticulously adhered to by the Departmental Promotion Committees. In cases where promotion is to be made on the basis of seniority*cum*merit procedure given in (III) above will applyD."
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[8] 2003*04 V.Good 2004*05 Good 2005*06 Good 2006*07 Good 2007*08 Average" = #
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Time Status Bench Mark 1.
1.4.2005 Good To 31.3.2006 2.
1.4.2006 Good To 31.3.2007 3.
1.4.2007 Average To 31.3.2008 4.
1.4.2008 Good To 31.3.2009 5.
1.4.2009 Average To 31.3.2010 Total Bench Marks 8"
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In our opinion, every entry (and not merely a poor or adverse entry) relating to an employee under the State or an instrumentality of the State, whether in civil, judicial, police or other service (except the military) must be communicated to him, within a reasonable period, and it makes no difference whether there is a benchmark or not. Even if there is no benchmark, non*communication of an entry may adversely affect the employee's chances of promotion (or getting some other benefit), because when comparative merit is being considered for promotion (or some other benefit) a person having a "good" or "average" or "fair" entry certainly has less chances of being selected than a person having a "very good" or "outstanding" entry.
In most services there is a gradation of entries, which is usually as follows:
"(i) Outstanding (ii) Very Good (iii) Good (iv) Average (v) Fair (vi) Poor A person getting any of the entries at Items (ii) to (vi) should be communicated the entry so that he has an opportunity of making a representation praying for its upgradation, and such a representation must be decided fairly and within a reasonable period by the authority concerned.
If we hold that only "poor" entry is to be communicated, the consequences may be that persons getting "fair", "average", "good" or "very good" entries will
[12] not be able to represent for its upgradation, and this may subsequently adversely affect their chances of promotion (or get some other benefit).
In our opinion if the office memorandum dated 10/11*9*1987, is interpreted to mean that only adverse entries (i.e. "poor" entry) need to be communicated and not "fair", "average" or "good" entries, it would become arbitrary (and hence illegal) since it may adversely affect the incumbent's chances of promotion, or to get some other benefit. For example, if the benchmark is that an incumbent must have "very good" entries in the last five years, then if he has "very good" (or even "outstanding") entries for four years, a "good" entry for only one year may yet make him ineligible for promotion. This "good" entry may be due to the personal pique of his superior, or because the superior asked him to do something wrong which the incumbent refused, or because the incumbent refused to do sycophancy of his superior, or because of caste or communal prejudice, or to for some other extraneous consideration.
In our opinion, every entry in the ACR of a public servant must be communicated to him within a reasonable period, whether it is a poor, fair, average, good or very good entry. This is because non*communication of such an entry may adversely affect the employee in two ways:
(1) had the entry been communicated to him he would know about the assessment of his work and conduct by his superiors, which would enable him to improve his work in future; (2) he would have an opportunity of making a representation against the entry if he feels it is unjustified, and pray for its upgradation. Hence, non*communication of an entry is arbitrary, and it has been held by the Constitution Bench decision of this Court in Maneka
[13] Gandhi v. Union of India that arbitrariness violates Article 14 of the Constitution.
Thus, it is not only when there is a benchmark but in all cases that an entry (whether it is poor, fair, average, good or very good) must be communicated to a public servant, otherwise there is violation of the principle of fairness, which is the soul of natural justice. Even an outstanding entry should be communicated since that would boost the morale of the employee and make him work harderDDD
In our opinion, non*communication of entries in the annual confidential report of a public servant, whether he is in civil, judicial, police or any other service (other than the military), certainly has civil consequences because it may affect his chances for promotion or get other benefits (as already discussed above). Hence, such non* communication would be arbitrary, and as such violative of Article 14 of the Constitution."
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