Summary
The Court upheld reading down the electricity Board’s promotion regulations so that direct-recruit Assistant Accounts Officers were not required to pass SAS Part II for promotion as Accounts Officers. Their recruitment did not require that examination, and the merged cadre stood on an equal footing. Earlier litigation over their regular status explained the timing of their challenge. Existing promotees could not retain protection that would defeat reconsideration of the direct recruits from their juniors’ promotion dates.
Issues
- Whether the SAS Part II examination condition could apply to promotion of direct-recruit Assistant Accounts Officers under the amended regulations.
- Whether delay or lengthy service of existing promotees justified withholding consequential reconsideration.
Provisions considered
- Accounts Officer promotion provision amended by notification dated 02.01.2010, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Recruitment and Promotion RegulationsThe examination condition attached to the 80% promotion quota was read down so that it did not govern direct-recruit Assistant Accounts Officers’ promotion to Accounts Officer. (¶¶ 2.3, 2.4, 8.1)
Held
- Under the 2006 recruitment arrangements, direct-recruit Assistant Accounts Officers did not need SAS Part II, while the examination governed promotion from Superintendent (D/A). Once appointed to the Assistant Accounts Officer cadre, direct recruits and promotees stood at par. In this regulatory setting the added examination requirement for their further promotion was arbitrary and illogical, and the High Court correctly read it down. (¶¶ 2.1, 2.2, 8.1)
- There was no disqualifying delay. The direct recruits’ regular status and consequential seniority were settled through the 2015 Supreme Court decision; only thereafter were regular appointment orders and seniority issued, giving rise to their claim for further promotion. (¶ 8.2)
- Protection against reversion was refused because it would nullify the relief upheld and complicate subsequent promotions. The promotion list had to be recast and the direct recruits considered from the dates their juniors were promoted, with necessary consequences. (¶ 8.3)
Result
All appeals dismissed; High Court’s reading down and consequential promotion directions upheld. Protection of existing promotions refused; no costs, and pending applications disposed of.