LAWS(MAD)-2000-5-4

S SEETHARAMAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

Decided On May 09, 2000
S. SEETHARAMAN Appellant
V/S
UNION OF INDIA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Order of the Court was as follows : Writ petitioners have filed the writ petition praying to issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents 1 to 4 to revise and fix the inter se seniority of the petitioners and the respondents 5 to 13 in the category of Supervisors in accordance with their seniority in the category of Senior Intelcom Operators and as per the relevant rules. In the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, the writ petitioners would submit that themselves and respondents No. 5 to 13 entered the service as Junior Checkers in the Traffic Wing of the Government of India Overseas Communication, Service during the years 1954 to 1957; that after the prescribed training, they were promoted as Senior Intelcom Operators; that they are seniors to respondents 5 to 13 as per the Gradation List published by the Department; that according to the Rules, on completion of 7 years service and on passing the efficiency bar examination, they would become eligible for promotion to the post of Supervisor on the basis of seniority-cum-merit.

(2.) THE petitioners would further submit that the Overseas Communication Services was constituted into a Public Sector undertaking viz., Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., with effect from 1-4-1986 by the first respondent and the services of the petitioners and the respondents No. 5 to 13 were transferred to the said undertaking by a letter dated 11-12-1989; that by a memorandum dated 11-12-1989, the third respondent Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., issued a notice of observation to all the persons including the petitioners and respondents No. 5 to 13 that though the petitioners had exercised option for absorption into the regular service of the third respondent with effect from 2-1-1990, respondents No. 1 to 4 did not issue any final order of acceptance; that no service rules had also been framed by the third respondent resulting in petitioners and respondent No. 5 to 13 still continuing to be governed by the Rules of the first respondent Government.THE petitioners would further submit that they are seniors to respondents 5 to 13 in the category of Senior Intelcom Operators, they having been placed at serial No. 31, 40, 45, 47, 62 and 63, whereas the respondent No. 5 to 13 have been placed at Serial Nos. 38, 58, 59, 69, 70, 71, 73, 78 and 80 in the seniority list of Senior Intelcom Operators as per the gradation list published by the department; that they were qualified and promoted as Supervisors; that however the third respondents passed orders 21-11-1989 and 8-2-1990 promoting the respondents No. 5 to 13 as Supervisors on regular basis, thus evidently overlooking the seniority of the petitioners and failing to promote them as Supervisors and that the representations made by the petitioners in this regard were of no avail.

(3.) ASSESSING the merit of the case based on the pleadings of the petitioners and having regard to the materials placed on record and upon hearing the learned Counsel for both the petitioners and the respondent No. 4, what comes to be known is that the petitioners and the respondents 5 to 13 are of equal cadre and belong to the post of Head Checkers; that there is also an equal cadre viz. Senior Intelcom Operators both of which are the feeder posts for the selection posts of Supervisors; that in spite of the petitioners and respondents 5 to 13 belonging to one and the same cadre, overlooking the seniority of the petitioners, the respondents 5 to 13 have been promoted to the post of Supervisors and hence claiming to maintain the seniority directly even on promotion, the petitioners have come forward to file this writ petition seeking the relief to direct the respondents Nos. 1 to 4 to revise and refix the inter se seniority of the petitioners and respondents 5 to 13 in the category of Supervisors in accordance with the category of Supervisors in accordance with the category of Senior Intelcom Operators.On the part of the 4th respondent it would be argued that the post of the supervisor is a cadre post; that for promotion for a non-cadre post, Seniority is the automatic norm thus adopted, but since the post of Supervisor being a cadre post, it is not the seniority but the merit that counts and in order to guage the merit of each and every candidate, they constituted a Departmental Promotion Committee consisting of the General Manager and the three Deputy Managers to select the candidates from the feeder categories viz., the Head Checkers and Senior Intelcom Operators and going through the entires effected in the merit chart prepared by the Department giving credence to the more merited persons, seniority had been fixed at the time of promotion to the post of Supervisor and hence the respondents 5 to 13 being more merited than the petitioners, their seniority was fixed over and above the petitioners and such fixation of seniority on promotion since being on rational basis such of the acts of respondents 1 to 4 neither be termed as arbitrary or capricious, but quite legal and rational and would thus try to justify the fixation of the seniority of the respondents 5 to 13 over and above the petitioners.