UNION OF INDIA Vs. PRADIP KUMAR KEDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These are the appeals against the common judgment dated 20.03.2009 of the Delhi High Court in Writ Petition (Civil) Nos. 7526 of 2008, 7521 of 2008 and 7523 of 2008 (for short the impugned judgment).

(2.) The facts very briefly are that the Government of India, Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs, by advertisement dated 22.01.2005 invited applications for 9 vacancies in the post of Judicial Member and 13 vacancies in the post of Accountant Member in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The advertisement, however, stated that the number of vacancies indicated in the advertisement was only approximate and was liable to increase or decrease due to unexpected circumstances that may occur upto 31.12.2005. On 07.09.2005, one more vacancy arose in the post of Accountant Member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and this took the total number of vacancies in the post of Accountant Member to 14. Against the 9 vacancies in the post of Judicial Member and 14 vacancies in the post of Accountant Member, the Selection Board in its recommendations placed 18 candidates in the main select list, 7 candidates for the post of Judicial Member and 11 candidates for the post of Accountant Member. The Selection Board in its recommendations also placed 2 candidates, namely, Nandan Kumar Jha and B. Krishna Mohan in the wait list for the post of Judicial Member and 2 candidates, namely, P.K. Kedia and Inturi Rama Rao in the wait list for the post of Accountant Member. Out of the 18 selected candidates, 2 candidates selected for the post of Accountant Member were not cleared by the Vigilance Department and the list of 16 remaining candidates was placed before the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet on 26.04.2006. The Appointments Committee approved the appointment of all the 16 candidates but directed the Law Ministry to amend the recruitment rules so as to provide for appointment of the members of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal for a period of two years.

(3.) In 2007, the Revenue Bar Association filed Writ Petition No. 8288 of 2007 in the Madras High Court for a mandamus to give effect to the selection list with regard to the posts of Judicial and Accountant Members in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal pursuant to the advertisement dated 22.01.2005 and by order dated 24.04.2007 the Madras High Court disposed of the Writ Petition with a direction to the Appellants to place the matter before the Appointments Committee and with a further direction to give effect to the Selection List as approved by the Selection Board in the light of the decisions in R.S. Mittal v. Union of India, (1995) 2 Suppl. SCC 230 and A.P. Aggarwal v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Anr., (2000) 1 SCC 600. The order of the Madras High Court was challenged by the Union of India before this Court in a Special Leave Petition, but on 17.08.2007 this Court dismissed the Special Leave Petition and directed the Union of India to complete the formalities and to give effect to the Selection List. The Appointments Committee thereafter approved the names of all the 16 selected candidates and appointed them till the date of retirement on attaining the age of 62 years or until further orders in its decision taken on 31.08.2007. In the decision taken on 31.08.2007, the Appointments Committee also decided that the appointment of members of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in future will be taken up only after the recruitment rules of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal are amended. In accordance with the decision of the Appointments Committee, the Law Ministry of the Union of India, issued orders for appointment to all the 16 candidates approved by the Appointments Committee.