SUBRATA CHAKRAVARTY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the instant writ application, essentially being aggrieved by the decision taken by the concerned authority of the Ministry of Coal, Government of India, (hereinafter referred to as the "concerned Ministry") to recommend scrapping of the panel prepared by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (hereinafter referred to as the "PESB") for the post of Chairman cum Managing Director, Eastern Coalfields Limited (hereinafter referred to as the "ECL") and the subsequent scrapping of the panel on 3rd August, 2015 by the Appointments

(2.) Committee of Cabinet (hereinafter referred to as the "ACC"). The panel included the name of the writ petitioner for the post-in-question.

(3.) Before going into the factual details, it may be worthwhile to state certain relevant particulars regarding the writ petitioner. The writ petitioner joined service on 13th October, 1979 as a Junior Executive Trainee and since then he has been working in different subsidiaries under Coal India Limited. The writ petitioner is a mining engineering graduate having graduated from the Indian School of Mines in the year 1979. He had obtained a first class mine manager's certificate from the Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) in the year 1984. Thereafter, he obtained a Master of Computer Applications degree from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi in 1997. On joining Central Coalfields Limited, his posting initially was at an underground mine in the State of Jharkhand. Thereafter, he worked as an Undermanager, Assistant Manager and Colliery Manager at different mines of Central Coalfields Limited. He then joined the Planning and Project Monitoring Division of the Central Coalfields Limited and worked as Superintendent of Mines and Deputy Chief Mining Engineer. He joined Bharat Coking Coal Limited in the year 2001 and worked there as a Project Officer and General Manager till 2006. He held other posts like Technical Secretary to the Chairman, Coal India Limited, Chief General Manager, Amlohri Project, in the year 2008, before joining as Director (Technical), ECL, Sanctoria, West Bengal, with effect from 24th March, 2009 and completed his five years tenure on 23rd March, 2014. The extension of his tenure as Director (Technical) of ECL could not be processed as per procedure since clearance of the Central Vigilance Commission (hereinafter referred to as "CVC") was not available. In the meanwhile, he was recommended by the PESB in October, 2014, for appointment as the Chairman cum Managing Director of ECL. However, his case for appointment as the Chairman cum Managing Director of ECL could not be processed for want of vigilance clearance which ultimately led to scrapping of the panel containing his name by the ACC based on the recommendation made by the concerned Ministry.