ASHWANI GOYAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA & ANR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a Chartered Accountant by profession; suffering from a locomotor disability, is aggrieved by the judgment dated 28.09.2017 passed by the Tribunal, dismissing his O.A. No.4337/2015, praying inter alia for quashing a Gazette Notification dated 29.08.2015, published by the respondent No.1/Ministry of Law and Justice, appointing 12 candidates against 20 vacancies of Judicial Members and 15 candidates against 28 vacancies of Accountant Members in the ITAT, wherein his name did not feature. Further, the petitioner had sought directions to the respondents to consider appointing him as an Accountant Member in the ITAT against the vacancies notified, in terms of O.M. dated 22-25.05.2015, issued by the respondent No.2/DOPT on the subject of "Special Recruitment Drive to fill up the Vacancies for Persons with Disabilities".

(2.) The facts as recorded in the impugned order are that a Circular dated 17.04.2013 was issued by the respondent No.1, inviting applications for appointment to the posts of Judicial Member and Accountant Member in the ITAT. The petitioner, who is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a person suffering with locomotor disability in one arm, had applied for the subject post in the Orthopedically Handicapped (OH) category. There were 28 posts of Accountant Members and out of the said 28 posts, one post was reserved for a person who is orthopedically handicapped. Interviews for the subject posts were conducted by the Selection Board comprising of four persons, namely, a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court of India, the Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, the President, ITAT and the then Additional Solicitor General of India.

(3.) The interviews for selecting the Judicial/Accountant Members were held by the Selection Board on 27.04.2017. The petitioner had duly appeared in the interview. Thereafter, the Selection Board had recommended 25 candidates for appointment as Judicial Members and 35 candidates for appointment as Accountant Members in the ITAT. As regards the single post of Accountant Member reserved for the OH candidate, the Selection Board recommended the name of Shri Dinesh Kumar Dikshit in the main list and Smt. Padmavathy S. in the wait list. The proposal of the Selection Board was forwarded to the ACC for approval. The ACC granted approval only in respect of 21 candidates (18 in the main list and 3 in the wait list) for the post of Judicial Member and 31 candidates (25 in the main list and 6 in the wait list) for the post of Accountant Member. However, the names of the recommendees for the single post of Accountant Member reserved for the OH candidate were not approved by the ACC. In terms of the Gazette Notification dated 29.08.2015-04.09.2015 issued by the Government of India, only 12 Judicial Members and 15 Accountant Members were selected against 20 and 28 vacancies respectively.