COL. K.P. KUMAR Vs. UOI AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petitioners in these batch of cases allege discrimination in matters of promotion and question a bar contained in the service conditions applicable to them; they are working as permanently 'seconded' (in effect, permanently absorbed) officers in the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (hereafter "DGQA"). They were previously working as officers in the Indian Army. The bar which they are aggrieved by prohibits consideration of their cases for promotion, irrespective of their work and performance in the DGQA-it is to the effect that those permanently superseded in the Indian Army would not be considered for promotion. The petitioners complain that this is discriminatory, because their colleagues (some permanently seconded from the armed forces like them, but not superseded; and other technical personnel, who never served in the armed forces) are considered for promotion purely on the basis of their merit, ability and functioning within the DGQA rather than judged on the basis of their previous performance under other employers.

(2.) The Directorate General of Quality Assurance falls under the Department of Defence Production, Union Ministry of Defence. The department is headed by a Central Government Secretary ranking officer. It provides Quality Assurance (QA) for an entire range of Arms, Ammunition's, Equipments and Stores supplied to Armed Forces. Apart from quality assurance activities, the DGQA is responsible for import substitution and associates with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the development projects and further ensures Documentation, Codification and Standardisation Action for minimising the variety of components/equipments. The DGQA has four disciplines:

(3.) Induction to the DGQA is from amongst personnel drawn from the different armed forces (Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force) as well as other technical personnel who are or were not necessarily members of any armed force. Officers from various Armed Forces and services are initially inducted from their respective establishments, including the Indian Army into DGQA on tenure basis. They are subsequently granted permanent secondment subject to fulfilment of prescribed eligibility criteria contained in policy letters of the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD)/DGQA. Upon secondment to DGQA, they are governed by the terms and conditions contained in MoD OM No. 67952/Q/DGI (Adm-4)/10412/D (Prod) dated 28.10.1978 ["1978/OM"] and MoD OM No 21 (4)/92/D (Inspection) dated 04.05.1993. One of the conditions - spelt out in the latter circular, is that the concerned officer should not have been 'finally superseded' (Clause 1(b)) in the Indian Army. The consideration was also restricted; only those "officers of the rank of Major/Lt Col (including Lt Col (TS)) will be considered for permanent secondment subject to fulfilling the eligibility criteria". The 04.05.1993 circular further stated that final orders for permanent secondment could be issued only after the selected officers' willingness was obtained in writing. The officers, once permanently seconded, continue in the organisation till their retirement and are included in the cadre Seniority list of Permanently Seconded Service Officers according to their dates of seniority as substantive Major, as modified based on the penalties/loss of seniority in the parent corps and would be considered for promotion to higher ranks based on availability of vacancies in respective disciplines. The condition with respect to ineligibility of officers 'finally superseded' in the army was repeated in the circular issued on 22.12.1993 by the Central Government. On 13.05.1998, the Union Department of Defence Production and Supplies issued a further circular on the issue, which modified the existing regime relating to permanently seconded officers of the Indian Army, and amended the previous circular inter alia, in the following terms: