AJAY KUMAR JOSHI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) REGARD being had to the commonality of controversy, this batch of writ petitions was heard together and is disposed of by a singular order. Ajay Kumar Joshi, the petitioner in W.P.(C) No.3457/2011, preferred two original applications before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (for short ,,the tribunal) forming the subject matter of O.A. Nos.2357/2010 and 3604/2010 assailing the action of the State of Uttarakhand in extending the benefit of promotion to the respondent nos. 4 to 6 in the pay scale of the Chief Secretary and further challenging the selection of the respondent ? Subhash Kumar for the post of Chief Secretary of the State on the foundation that there has been total violation of the provisions contained in the Rules, Regulations and instructions in the field. The tribunal accepted the contentions raised by the applicant before it and set aside the benefit of promotion extendKumar and also quashed the order of promotion of the applicant and directed to make fresh selection after following the due procedure as postulated in law within two months with a further stipulation that the present arrangement would remain in vogue during the said period. Shri A.K. Joshi has preferred W.P.(C) No.3457/2011 for quashing the direction by which his promotion has been annulled and further to issue a command for restoration of his promotion. The State of Uttarakhand has preferred W.P.(C) No.3476/2011 and W.P.(C) No.3477/2011 challenging the order passed by the tribunal and Subhash Kumar has preferred W.P.(C) No.3485/2011 and W.P.(C) No.3486/2011. Be it noted, the stand and stance put forth by the State of Uttarakhand and Subhash Kumar are same and their prayer is for quashment of the order passed by the tribunal in entirety.

(2.) PRESENTLY to the factual matrix. The applicant before the tribunal in OA No.3604/2010 called in question the legal propriety of the concurrence given by the Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT), in response to the letters dated 31.5.2010 and 8.10.2010 of the State of Uttarakhand as regards the availability of one vacancy in the apex scale of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the Uttarakhand cadre as on 31.5.2010 in terms of the provisions of Rule 3(2)(ii) and (iii) of the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2007 (for short ,,the 2007 Rules) in addition to two vacancies in the said grade for which concurrence has already been given by the respondent by communication dated 19.9.2008 and further challenged the orders dated 12.9.2010 and 13.9.2010 whereby the 4th respondent, Subhash Kumar, had been appointed as the Chief Secretary of the Government of Uttarakhand. In the said application, the relief sought was to set aside the afore- mentioned two orders dated 12.9.2010 and 13.10.2010 contained in Annexures P- 1 to P-3 of the original application; to issue appropriate guidelines of general application for posting of officers on the post of Chief Secretary in the State cadres; and to declare that the post of Director General, Uttarakhand Administrative Academy, Nainital is not equal in status and responsibility to the post of Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand.

(3.) AS is discernible from the factual exposition, the cadre strength of IAS officers in Uttarakhand state was determined at 94 under the IAS (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1955 vide the Government of India notification dated 4th October, 2004. The post categorized under Senior Duty Posts (SDP) are commonly known as cadre posts and the posts under State Deputation Reserve (SDR) are called ex-cadre posts. There are four grades having different pay- scales in SDP. The Chief Secretary grade is also known as the apex grade in the cadre, the highest grade having pay-scale of Rs.80,000/- (fixed).