UOI AND ORS. Vs. MANISHA SHARMA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Union of India (hereafter "UoI" or "the Union") is aggrieved by the orders of the Principal Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal ("CAT") dated 10 -9 -1999 in O.A. 1659/93 and O.A.2141/1997 and 17.07.2003 (in O.A. 2037/98 with O.A.239/2000, O.A. 1194/1998, O.A. 2055/2000, O.A. 1057/2002 and O.A. 965/2002) whereby the respondents' (hereafter called "the applicants") seniority in the Indian Railway Accounts Service ("IRAS") was directed to be restored to the original position, reckoning inter -se seniority of direct recruits to that service solely on the basis of merit in the All India Civil Services Examination (hereafter "Civil Services Examination" or" CSE" or "UPSC Examination") held for that purpose. The position of the Union and the Railways establishment in the proceedings before CAT was that inter -se seniority had to be reckoned on the basis of combined performance in the entrance examination and performance evaluation/appraisal at the end of the training, in accordance with instructions issued in that regard on 03.07.1987 ("impugned circular").

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the nine applicants in O.A. No. 1659/93 (respondents in W.P. 139/2000, hereafter "Manisha Sharma batch") belong to the 1986 batch and the applicant in O.A. No. 2141/97 (respondent in W.P.(C) 12413/2006, hereafter "Neelam Sanghi batch") belong to the 1988 batch of candidates selected by the Union Public Services Commission ("UPSC") for All India Services. All the applicants in both proceedings were allotted IRAS after they successfully competed in the All India Civil Services Examination. The applicants in the Manisha Sharma batch aver that many of them were ranked high in the combined merit list declared by the UPSC for the All India exam (achieving ranks such as 186, 299, 303, 412 and 353) and could have easily secured allotment in the Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service or some other cadre, but that they preferred to opt for the IRAS. They were asked to report immediately to the Lal Bahadur National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, which they did. Ms. Nirupma Kumar, the applicant in the third batch, was selected in the CSE held by UPSC in 1990; her merit position was No. 1 in the IRAS based on the UPSC result. She joined the service on 16.09.1991 and successfully completed her training period on 10.09.1993.

(3.) NOTE (k) of the IRAS Rules, as amended in 1972, provided that in all matters not specifically provided for in the Rules, the officers, including probationers are to be governed by provisions of the Indian Railway Codes and any other orders issued by the Ministry of Railways from time to time. Before 03.07.1987 the fixation of inter -se seniority of direct recruits to the IRAS was premised upon the relative seniority of such officers was determined by the order of their merit in the select list prepared by the UPSC. This was in accordance with paragraph 4 of the General Principles for Determination of Seniority in the Central Services laid down by the Department of Personnel and Training ("DoPT") vide its Office Memorandum ("OM") No. 22011/7/86 Estt. (D) dated 03.07.1986, which reads as follows: