PETITIONER:
DR N.D. MITRA
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
UNION OF INDIA
DATE OF JUDGMENT23/05/1994
BENCH:
KULDIP SINGH (J)
BENCH:
KULDIP SINGH (J)
SAWANT, P.B.
CITATION:
1994 AIR 2163 1994 SCC (4) 474
JT 1994 (4) 206 1994 SCALE (2)1136
ACT:
HEADNOTE:
JUDGMENT:
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
KULDIP SINGH, J.- Geological Survey of India (GSI) as an All
India Service consists of six independent disciplines
(cadres) namely, Geology, Geophysics, Geophysics
(Instrumentation), Geochemistry, Drilling and Mechanical
Engineering. Promotions, up to the rank of Deputy Director
General, are confined to the respective disciplines. Above
the Deputy Director General are two other ranks, Senior
Deputy Director General and the Director General. Entry
into the service as Group-A officer is through one of the
disciplines. The seniority of the officers is maintained
within their respective disciplines. The feeder post for
the Deputy Director General, in each of the discipline, is
that of Director. Since the upward journey within the
discipline ends at the post of Deputy Director General, the
post of Senior Deputy Director General is filled by
considering the Deputy Directors General from all the
disciplines. The Government of India maintains a seniority
list of Deputy Directors General based on continuous length
of service in the said post.
2.The question before the Central Administrative Tribunal
(the Tribunal) was whether the seniority in the cadre of
Deputy Directors General be determined on the basis of
continuous length of service in the said post or on the
basis of the length of service in the discipline. It was
also urged before the Tribunal that the Departmental
Promotion Committee (the DPC) should meet at one point of
time in a year to fill all the vacancies of the Deputy
Directors General falling vacant in various disciplines.
The argument was that due to red-tape or administrative
delays in the constitution of the DPCS, a person selected by
an earlier DPC is bound to get higher seniority due to the
fortuitous circumstance of one DPC having met earlier than
the other. The Tribunal held that the seniority was rightly
being determined on the basis of continuous length of
service in the post of Deputy Director General. The
Tribunal also rejected the contention regarding the
simultaneous holding of the DPCS. The appellants who were
the applicants before the Tribunal have come up to this
Court against the judgment of the Tribunal.
3.Dr N.D. Mitra and Dr S.K. Acharyya – the appellants, on
being selected by the Union Public Service Commission,
joined the GSI as Geologist (Junior) in 1962, promoted as
Geologist (Senior) in 1966 and to
476
the post of Director (Geologist) in 1979. Dr N.R. Sengupta,
Respondent 4, was appointed as Assistant Chemist in 1960,
promoted as Chemist (Junior) in 1961, Chemist (Senior) in
1970 and Director (Geochem) in 1982. Shri D.B. Dimri,
Respondent 5, was appointed as Geophysicist (Junior) in
1966, promoted as Geophysicist (Senior) in 1971 and Director
(Geophysics Instrumentation) in 1981. Shri M.R. Nair,
Respondent 6, was promoted to the post of Geophysicist
(Junior) in 1960, promoted as Geophysicist (Senior) in 1966
and Director (Geophysics) in the year 1980. The posts of
Geologist (Junior), Chemist (Junior) and Geophysicist
(Junior) are of equal status though in different
disciplines. The appellants contended before the Tribunal
that they, having been promoted to the post of Director
earlier than the respondents, should rank senior to them as
Deputy Directors General. It was further contended by the
appellants that they were eligible for consideration to the
post of Deputy Director General in March 1988 but their
cases were considered by the DPC held in December 1988
whereas the DPCs for other streams such as, Geochemistry,
Geophysics and Geophysics (Instrumentation) were held in
March and May 1988. Further, in the case of the appellants,
the recommendations of the DPC were given effect to in the
year 1989 whereas the recommendations in respect of the
respondents were accepted and appointments made in June,
August and November 1988. According to the appellants the
delays in holding the meeting of the DPC and giving effect
to its recommendations have resulted in depriving the
appellants of their seniority above the respondents. As
mentioned above, tile Tribunal rejected the contentions of
the appellants and dismissed their application.
4.We have heard learned counsel for the parties. We have
noticed above that the promotions from the cadres of
Geologist (Junior), Chemist (Junior) and Geophysicist
(Junior) etc. up to the rank of Deputy Director General are
made discipline-wise. An officer holding the post of
Geologist (Junior) cannot be promoted as Chemist (Senior) or
vice versa. Even Director (Geology) cannot be promoted as
Deputy Director General (Geochemistry). The feeder post for
promotion to the post of Deputy Director General in each
discipline is the post of Director in the said discipline.
For example, the feeder post for Deputy Director General
(Geology) is the Director (Geology). Similar is the case
with other disciplines. The normal rule for fixing
seniority in a cadre is the length of service. In the
absence of any statutory rules or executive instructions to
the contrary, inter se seniority amongst the Deputy
Directors General has to be fixed on the basis of continuous
length in the said post. As mentioned above the hierarchy
of the six distinct separate disciplines comes to an end
with the post of Deputy Director General. Thereafter the
post of Senior Deputy Director General is common to all the
disciplines. The Deputy Directors General, working in all
the six disciplines, are entitled to be considered for
promotion to the post of Senior Deputy Director General and
as such it is necessary to maintain their inter se
seniority. We see no infirmity in fixing the seniority
amongst the Deputy Directors General on the basis of their
length of service in the said post. We, therefore, uphold
the finding of the Tribunal on this point.
477
5.We are, however, of the view that the Government of India
must hold the meetings of the DPC at the same time to fill
the vacancies of the Deputy Directors General available in
various disciplines of the GSI. It is entirely for the
Government to decide whether the DPC is to meet once or
twice in a year. Whenever it is decided to hold the meeting
of the DPC, it must be for all the disciplines where the
vacancies of Deputy Director General are available to be
filled. The recommendations of the DPCs should also be
processed simultaneously and, ordinarily, appointments made
at the same time. Persons promoted and appointed as Deputy
Directors General on the same date can be given seniority
either on the basis of the length of service on the post of
Director or on the basis of the merit assigned by the DPC
depending upon the statutory rules or the Government
instructions on the subject. We are giving these directions
to be operative prospectively. We are not inclined to
interfere with the selections made by various DPCs in the
present case.
6.Accordingly to the chart showing the career growth of the
appellants and the respondents filed by Respondent 2, Dr
N.R. Sengupta, Respondent 4 and Shri M.R. Nair, Respondent 6
have since retired from service. Shri D.B. Dimri,
Respondent 5 was promoted and appointed as Deputy Director
General on 17-8-1988. He was further promoted to the post
of Senior Deputy Director General on 10-8-1993. Dr N.D.
Mitra, appellant, was promoted and appointed to the post of
Deputy Director General on 13-3-1988 and he was further
promoted to the post of Senior Deputy Director General on
10-8-1993. Dr S.K. Acharyya, appellant, was promoted to the
post of Deputy Director General on 9-3-1989. Promotion to
the post of Director General, GSI is governed by the rules
called the Geological Survey of India (Group A and Group B
Posts) Recruitment (Amendment) Rules, 1993 (the Rules).
These Rules have come into force with effect from 12-7-1993.
The post of Director General is a selection post and is to
be filled on the recommendation of the Departmental
Promotion Committee consisting of Chairman/Member, Union
Public Service Commission (Chairman) and Secretary Ministry
of Mines (Member). Senior Deputy Directors General with two
years’ regular service in the grade or with five years’
regular service in the grade of Senior Deputy Director
General and Deputy Director General combined, are eligible
to be considered for promotion to the post of Director
General. Since the post of Director General is a selection
post, the seniority in the cadre of Senior Deputy Director
General/Deputy Director General is not of much relevance.
We direct Respondents 1 to 3 to hold the meeting of the DPC
under the Rules within eight weeks from today, for selection
to the post of Director General, GSI from amongst the
eligible Senior Deputy Directors General. The respondents
shall keep the date of retirement of any of the eligible
officers in view and preferably hold the meeting of the DPC
before the said date.
7. The appeal is disposed of in the above terms. No
costs.
483