ARVIND KUMAR Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has approached this Court seeking the following reliefs:-

(2.) Factual matrix of the case is that on 2/2/2015 the Police Headquarters issued a Circular for making regular selection on the post of Inspector (Civil Police) from Sub Inspector (Civil Police) who has completed minimum 10 years of service on the post of Sub Inspector and have satisfactory service record from 1/1/2004. Appointment by promotion on the post of Inspector (Civil Police) in Uttarakhand Police is governed by the procedure prescribed vide Notification dtd. 23/9/2004 notified by the Department of Home, Government of Uttarakhand, which contemplates that for promotion on the post of Inspector (Civil Police/Intelligence), the Sub Inspector (Civil Police/Intelligence) who have rendered at least 10 years of service as such on 1st day of April of a recruitment year and have satisfactory service record of 10 years will be eligible. This Notification was subsequently amended by another Notification dtd. 15/9/2006 whereby clause 3 of the Notification was amended by providing that 35 marks would be available for ACR entries. It was further clarified that for awarding the marks based on ACR entries of last 5 years, 3.5 marks would be awarded for 'Outstanding' category, 02 marks for 'Very Good' and 01 marks for 'Good'. On 18/12/2003, the State Government issued a Government Order regarding the procedure for ACR entries which provided that at the end of the ACR entry, the reporting officer would provided the grading of concerned employee based on his total work and conduct. The grading would be categorized as Outstanding, Very Good, Good, satisfactory and bad/unsatisfactory. Subsequently, the State Government issued another Government Order dtd. 30/9/2010 providing that ACR entries would be categorized in 04 categories viz. Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Bad/Unsatisfactory, which was, however, repealed/cancelled vide another Government Order dtd. 10/12/2012 and the government order dtd. 18/12/2003 was revoked which provided that the ACR entries would be graded in 05 categories, namely, Outstanding, Very Good, Good, satisfactory and bad/unsatisfactory.

(3.) On 7/10/2016, the Office of the Director General of Police, Uttarakhand issued a Circular regarding holding of the Interview for selection on the post of Inspector (Civil Police), which provided that the selection has to be held for promotion against 126 vacancies on the post of Inspector (Civil Police) and candidates four times of the vacancies i.e. 230 eligible Sub Inspector would be called for interview. Petitioner, being eligible, was also included in the list of eligible Sub Inspector to be called for interview. Merit list was prepared on the basis of marks obtained in ACR entries and interview, which showed that the last promotee Inspector (Civil Police) has obtained 74.5 marks out of 100 whereas the petitioner has secured 73.5 marks. Vide order dtd. 15/10/2016 and 3/5/2017, total 124 Sub Inspectors (Civil Police), excluding the petitioner, have been promoted on the post of Inspector (Civil Police and Intelligence). Petitioner obtained information under the Right to Information Act and came to know that for the ACR entry 'Excellent' for the year 2010 the petitioner has been awarded 02 marks. Thereafter, the petitioner made a representation to the Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, Dehradun, in respect of grading of the ACR entry awarded in the year 2010 to the petitioner as 'Excellent' being contrary to the provisions of the Government Orders in force pertaining to the recording of the ACR entries, and requested that the ACR entry of the petitioner for the year 2010 be treated as 'Outstanding' in place of 'Excellent'. Representation of the petitioner was rejected by the Police Department by order dtd. 15/12/2017.