K C GHUMARIA Vs. UOI & ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition under Articles 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India assails the order dated 01.05.2019 passed by the Principal Bench, Central Administrative Tribunal, New Delhi dismissing O.A.No.1166/2019. The original application (O.A.) was preferred by the petitioner seeking a direction to the respondents to expeditiously consider his candidature for the post of Member, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) as per the Office Memorandum dated 04.12.2018 and/or Office Memorandum dated 04.07.2018 inviting applications for the said post by following the applicable rules and guidelines.

(2.) The petitioner, an officer of the 1982 batch of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), is presently holding the post of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Patna. On 04.07.2018, an Office Memorandum (OM) was issued by the respondent no. 1 indicating therein that some posts of Member, CBDT were likely to fall vacant in the year 2018-19 and, therefore, all eligible officers were directed to forward their applications to their cadre controlling authority by 03.08.2018. The essential qualifications to the said post, as mentioned in this OM, read as under:-

(3.) In response to the OM, the petitioner submitted his application on 09.07.2018. After receiving applications from the eligible candidates, the respondents sent a brief to the Selection Committee for selecting candidates for the post of Member, CBDT for the vacancies arising in 2018-19, in accordance with the recruitment rules. This brief has been produced before us by the learned counsel for the respondents. Pursuant to the selection-which was approved by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, three officers of the IRS, namely, Ms. Neena Kumar, Mr. Akhilesh Ranjan, and Mr. Prasana Kumar Dash, were appointed to the said post vide Office Order dated 06.11.2018. They were the senior most officers who had offered their candidature. Upon learning that only three vacancies had been filled, even though the fourth vacancy had arisen in the mean time pursuant to the retirement of Mr. Arbind Modi on 30.09.2018, the petitioner submitted a representation on 27.11.2018, requesting them to consider his candidature for the said vacancy.