S.K. JAIN Vs. STATE OF M.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner was appointed as an LDC in the Department of Agriculture on 5 -3 -. 1965. By the time of filing of application before the M.P. State Administrative Tribunal (in short 'the Tribunal) the petitioner had put in 28 years of services and, as pleaded by him, he was visited with minor punishment in the year 1986 which was assailed before the Tribunal in O. A. No. 281/1991. It is put forth in the petition that he had served in the Department with utmost dedication and to the satisfaction of his superiors and got maximum pay scale in the cadre of LDC in March, 1990.

(2.) ACCORDING to the petitioner though he had put in number of years of service his case had not been considered for the post of UDC though his name features at serial No. 1 in the gradation list of LDCs prepared on 31 -7 -1990. It is urged that the respondents Nos. 5 and 6 who are juniors to the petitioner are shown at serial Nos. 2 and 3 of the final gradation list and the respondent No. 4 had been promoted to the post of UDC in the year 1990 and the respondent No. 6 had been promoted to the said post in the year 1992. It is set forth that the case of the petitioner had been ignored and, therefore, he submitted a representation, Annexure -A/2, to the competent authority. Thereafter he also served a legal notice through his counsel but nothing concrete happened. In these circumstances prayer has been made to confer him the benefit of promotion keeping in view the seniority has been reflected in the gradation list dated 30 -7 -1990 and further to quash the Departmental Promotion Committee's order whereby his case was not considered, or in the alternative, to promote him to the post from the date when his juniors were promoted.

(3.) I have heard Mr. Manoj Sanghi, Learned Counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Harish Agnihotri, learned Government Advocate for the State.