S K KADRI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Letters Patent Appeals under clause 15 of the Letters Patent are directed against the common judgement and order dated 22nd November, 2006 passed by the learned Single Judge in Special Civil Applications No.22734 of 2006 and 21083 of 2006.

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the appellants/original petitioners (hereinafter for the sake of convenience referred to as the petitioners) are working as Under Secretaries under the Legal Department of the Government of Gujarat. In the Final Seniority List issued by the said department, the names of the petitioners were shown at serial No.31 and 33, whereas that of the respondent No.4 was shown at serial No.35. Rule 11(3)(a) of the Gujarat Civil Services and Recruitment (General) Rules, 1967 (hereinafter referred to as "the Rules") originally provided that the appointment by promotion to the post of the Head of the Department or equivalent thereto or the higher post than that of the Head of the Department, shall be made on the principles of 'selectivity' irrespective of the seniority classifying the officers within the zone of consideration, namely 'outstanding' 'very good' and 'good' 'unfit'. It was further provided that the select list for promotion to the aforesaid posts shall be drawn by placing the names of 'outstanding' officers in order of their inter se seniority at the top, followed by the officers classified as 'very good' in order of their inter se seniority and then the officers classified as 'good' in order of their inter se seniority. The promotion of such officers was to be considered in order of rank in the Select List so drawn.

(3.) By the impugned Notification dated 29th October, 2005, sub-rule 3(a) of Rule 11 was substituted which inter alia provided that "The officers who are graded as "Good" or "Unfit" shall not be included in the select list", and sub-rule 4(a) was inserted after sub-rule (3) of Rule 11 of the Rules which provided that "Notwithstanding anything contained in sub rules (1) and (2) "Very Good' shall be the bench mark for being considered fit for promotion from the lowest rung of Class-I to the next immediate higher level in a hierarchy."