SANJEEVKUMAR P Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners some of the Officers in Junior Management Grade Scale I of the State Bank of India have by this petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India challenged the Circular dated 13/07/1988 (Annexure C) issued by the respondent-State Bank of India fixing the eligibility criteria and the zone of consideration for the promotion to the post of Officers Middle Management Grade Scale II by providing for the length of service from 31/12/1980 instead of the prior cut off date i.e. 1/08/1980 as arbitrary unjustified illegal null void and ultra vires the provisions of Sec. 43 of the State Bank of India Act 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the SBI Act).

(2.) The grievance of the petitioners is that by extending the zone of consideration by fixing the out of date by five months later on 13/07/1988 for the vacancies arising on 1/08/1986 the respondent-Bank has applied the circular retrospectively without any powers under the provisions of Sec. 43 of the SBI Act and therefore the said Circular is ultra vires the powers of the respondents and is arbitrary unjustified illegal null and void. The validity of Rule 31 of the State Bank of India (Supervising Staff) Service Rules (hereinafter referred to as the Service Rules) and para 17 of the State Bank of India Officers (Determination of Terms and Conditions of Service) Order 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the Officer Terms and Conditions of Service Order) is also challenged as ultra vires the Sec. 43 of the SBI Act and ultra vires Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India in so far as they purport to authorise or interpret to so authorise the Executive Committee to lay down the promotion policy with retrospective effect. The petitioners have also prayed for the directions to the Bank authorities to implement and to give effect to the Promotion policy contained in Staff Circular No. 200 of 1985 dated 22/11/1983 (Annexure A): for effecting promotions through merit channel with effect from August

(3.) In State Bank of India there were Officers Grade I and Officers Grade II and there was dissatisfaction relating to their service conditions and therefore the Government had appointed a committee known as Pillai Committee for considering the question of standardizing the pay and allowances of the Officers Staff in the Nationalised Banks. Ultimately the new cadre i.e. Junior Management Grade Scale I was formed. The Committee recommended four grades for the Officers viz. (1) Top Executive Grade (2) Senior Management Grade (3) Middle Management Grade and (4) Junior Management Grade and provided only one scale at the Junior Management level. As agreed with the Officers Federation the Officers Grade II were to be junior to the then existing Officers Grade I. The promotion avenues are from Junior Management Grade Scale I to Middle Management Grade Scale II from Middle Management Grade Scale II to Middle Management Grade Scale III and from Middle Management Grade Scale III to Senior Management Grate Scale IV. The dispute in this writ petition is in narrow campus relating to some relation in the age eligibility criteria for promotion to Middle Management Grade Scale II from Junior Management Grade Scale I. Prior to the issuance of the impugned Staff Circular No. 38 of 1988 dated 13/07/1988 laying down the eligibility criteria for promotion to Middle Management Grade Scale II with effect from 1/08/1986 the promotion policy and the eligibility criteria were fixed by the Staff Circular No. 149 of 1983 dated 29/08/1983 and Staff Circular No. 200 of 1983 dated 2/11/1983 issued by the Executive Committee in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 17 of the Officer Terms & Conditions of Service Order and Sec. 43 of the SBI Act. The Staff Supervising Promotion Policy specified in Staff Circular No. 149 of 1983 dated 29/08/1983 was on the basis of the agreement between the Management of the State Bank of India and the Officers Federation for the promotion policy for promotion from Junior Management Grade Scale I to Middle Management Grade Scale II. Some of the salient features of the agreement are that there would be two channel promotion policy for promotion to Scale II viz. the merit channel and the seniority channel the service criterion for merit channel promotion was six years total service as on 1st August every year but care should be taken to call all other Officers also to the test who had inter se seniority prior to 1/10/1979 over the Officers being called for the test on 6 years total service basis; the proportion in which the promotions would be made in the years 1983 1984 and 1985 through the seniority channel and merit channel would be 65% and 35% respectively. Clause (b) of the promotion policy specifically provided proportion of vacancies for seniority channel and other related matters will be reviewed bilaterally for promotions to Scale II for 1985 onwards. In pursuance of the promotion policy the Staff Circular No. 200 of 1983 dated 2/11/1983 (Annexure A) was issued specifying that there shall be two channels of promotion to Middle Management Grade Scale II i.e. Merit Channel and Seniority Channel beginning from the year 1983. The eligibility criteria for promotion is as under: