UOI Vs. KL TANEJA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondents of the four captioned petitions were working in the office of the Provident Fund Commissioner as GroupA officers being appointed as direct recruits to the post of Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, earning promotion to the post of Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-II, all of them became eligible for promotion to the post of Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-I. Being promoted as Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-II in the year 1999 all acquired eligibility for being promoted as Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-I in the year 2004 since the eligibility was 5 years service rendered in the feeder cadre. Persons senior to them and achieving the bench marks, respondents could not be promoted when the DPC met on May 27, 2005, and they have no grievance on said score.

(2.) In the years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09, 12, 6 and 25 vacancies respectively, existed in the post of Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-I, but no DPC was held in the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. A DPC was held on May 21, 2009, which considered the names of the eligible candidates and recommended a year-wise panel. Regular promotions were made with effect from May 21, 2009. In the interregnum, the respondents and a few other persons were granted ad-hoc promotions with benefit of pay scale in the promotional post

(3.) The grievance of the respondents was that in the absence of a regular promotion from the date when the vacancy became due, to which they were ultimately promoted, their right to further promotion to the post of Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner would be adversely affected because of the requirement of qualifying service in the feeder cadre i.e. the post of Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-I, as also their seniority; and by which we understand that there are direct recruitments made to the post of Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Grade-I, for if not, we see no issue of seniority being adversely affected depending on how the seniority list is casted.