(1.) The petitioner had entered in the services under the respondents No.1, 2 and 3 initially as the Sub-Inspector/Junior Engineer (Electrical), GDE-2 on 26.09.1996 in terms of the order dated 31.01.1997 [Annexure-1 to the writ petition]. Thereafter, he was promoted to the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) by virtue of the order dated 30.12.2011 [Annexure-2 to the writ petition] whereas the respondents No.4 and 5 were directly recruited in the post of Assistant Engineer (Electrical)/ Assistant Commandant respectively on 15.05.2012 and 07.06.2012.
(2.) A tentative seniority list of the Assistant Commandant/ Assistant Engineer (Electrical) as per routa quota system was published on 21.01.2019. The petitioner being aggrieved by the said seniority list dated 21.01.2019 had earlier approached this court by filing the writ petition being WP(C)No.1439/2019, which was disposed of by the order dated 20.12.2019 with direction that the official-respondents shall dispose of the objection of the petitioner and publish the seniority list expeditiously and the general timeliness as prescribed by the Delhi High Court in the pending litigation would apply in the case of the petitioner. It had been further directed that till such objections are disposed of and the seniority list is finalized, the tentative list shall not be utilized for the purpose of granting promotion, in other words the DPC shall not proceed to consider the cases of the eligible officers for promotion on the basis of the tentative seniority list meaning, no promotion should be considered till the final seniority list is published. In the event of rejection of the petitioner's objection, and if the petitioner is aggrieved by the seniority list which may be finalized by the department, it would be open for him to take the legal recourse.
(3.) On 31.12.2019, the respondent No.3 disposed of the representation of the petitioner and the others by rejecting his representation on observing that since the judgment of the High Court was not available to them as on 01.01.2020, and as the officers who had filed the representation and requested to withdraw the tentative seniority list of Assistant Engineer (Electrical) issued 21.01.2019 in the light of the judgment of the apex court dated 19.11.2019, titled as K. Meghachandra Singh and Others v. Ningam Siro and Others, the respondent No.2 has asserted that following the principle of rota-quota in terms of the DOPT circular dated 04.03.2014, the tentative seniority list was resubmitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs on 6.12.2019 and the Ministry of Home Affairs had approved the said tentative seniority list by their note dated 20.12.2019.