JITENDER KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is aggrieved by the decision dated 11.6.2003 and 14.1.2004 of the respondents vide which his request for the grant of out of turn promotion on account of his having been awarded gold medal while playing for Air Force has been rejected. There is a practice/policy of the respondent -Air Force to grant out of turn promotion to the sports persons who excelled in the field of sports while playing for the Air Force. The petitioner alleges that in spite of the said policy, he is denied out of turn promotion whereas such promotions have been given to other employees/sports persons in the Air Force and therefore, he is discriminated against.

(2.) The respondents, on the other hand, while accepting that there is such a policy, contend that the case of the petitioner is not covered by the said policy. Whether it is the petitioner or the respondent who is justified in taking the respective stands is the question which needs determination. For this purpose we shall have to traverse the necessary facts as well as the provisions of the concerned policy.

(3.) The petitioner is a sports person whose field of sport is TAE -KON -DO. He claims that he has exceptional achievements in this field. He is a outstanding TAE -KON -DO player of Indian Air Force and has represented his employer twice at Nationals level of 1997 and 1999. In the year 1999, while playing at the Nationals level for Indian Air Force, the petitioner won the gold medal in National TAE -KON -DO Championship. As a consequence, he was given a cash incentive of Rs.10,000/ - by the respondent and an out of turn promotion was also recommended by the Chief of Air Staff for his achievements. He also represented to the respondents for grant of an out of turn promotion to the post of Sergeant for his aforesaid achievements. However, to his utter shock and surprise his request was rejected on the ground that the same was not within the purview of the policy in vogue. The petitioner submits that prior to the year 1999, i.e. in the year 1998, JWO R.P. Yadav, who had represented the Indian Air Force in the Nationals held by the TAE - KON -DO Championship and was awarded bronze medal in the said competition, was granted out of turn promotion. Likewise, JWO Ajit Singh, who had won the silver medal in the same discipline in the year 1999 was also given out of turn promotion. The rejection of the claim of the petitioner was, therefore, not palatable to him as he perceived this action of the respondents as discriminatory. He, thus, made further representations to the respondents pointing out the aforesaid cases where the out of turn promotions had been accorded to other persons for their lesser achievement in the same sports. As these representations did not evoke any response, he was constrained to move an application dated 22.1.2003 under Section 26 of the Air Force Act, 1950. This representation, however, has been rejected vide their letter dated 11.6.2003 on the ground that his case does not fall within the purview of the promotion policy in vogue during the relevant period. Aggrieved by this decision, he submitted another representation dated 12.9.2003. In reply, letter dated 14.1.2004 was received categorically rejecting his request to grant out of turn promotion to the post of Sergeant and closing his case. After failing to get the relief administratively, the petitioner has approached this Court by means of present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing of the aforesaid orders dated 14.1.2004 and 11.6.2003.