SIDDHARTH PITABAS NAYAK Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the parties, petition is taken up for final hearing.

(2.) 'Sealed Cover Procedure' has by now become a familiar term in service jurisprudence. It essentially refers to deferring of action on recommendations of a Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) till the officer concerned is cleared in departmental/judicial proceedings. In the meantime, secrecy is to be maintained in respect of those recommendations by keeping them in a 'sealed envelope'. Only in the event of the officer being exonerated/acquitted in departmental/ criminal proceedings, the sealed envelope is to be opened to find out whether the DPC had recommended his/her promotion. If recommended, he/she earns the promotion which was withheld during pendency of proceedings. This sealed cover procedure emanated out of instructions issued by the Government of India, to which, we have made a reference in our judgment. However, the exact eventualities in which as well as the correct time at which this 'sealed cover procedure' can be adopted has been a subject matter of debate in various decisions of the Apex Court. This is yet another case which raises this issue about the timing of adoption of sealed cover procedure. Whether it can be adopted only after actual initiation of disciplinary proceedings or mere proposal to initiate the same is sufficient to resort to the same, is the issue involved in the present petition.

(3.) The issue arises in the light of Petitioner's claim for promotion to the post of Deputy Manager (Scale-III) in The United India Insurance Company Ltd.