RAKESH AGARWALA Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY filing this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioner seeks quashing of notification dated 08.03.2013, issued by the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Finance (Taxation) Department, laying down post -based Roster in the cadre of Joint Commissioner of Taxes under Finance (Taxation) Department and further seeks a direction to consider the case of the petitioner and other eligible candidates in the cadre of Deputy Commissioner of Taxes for promotion to the cadre of Joint Commissioner of Taxes without applying the principle of reservation.

(2.) CASE of the petitioner is that he is serving as Deputy Commissioner of Taxes in the Finance (Taxation) Department, Government of Assam. In the gradation list of Deputy Commissioner of Taxes, petitioner's position is at Serial No. 2. Position of respondent No. 4 is at Serial No. 6. Be it stated that petitioner belongs to the general category, whereas, respondent no. 4 belongs to Scheduled Tribes (Plains) [ST (P)] category.

(3.) AS per the rules governing recruitment, post of Joint Commissioner of Taxes is higher than the post of Deputy Commissioner of Taxes and the higher post is filled up by way of promotion from the feeder cadre of Deputy Commissioner. Cadre strength of Deputy Commissioner is 15, whereas, that of Joint Commissioner is 5. It appears that both petitioner and respondent No. 4 have claimed eligibility for promotion to Joint Commissioner of Taxes. By the impugned notification dated 08.03.2013, a 14 point roster has been prepared for the cadre of Joint Commissioner of Taxes, in which roster points 1, 2, 3 and 4 are earmarked for unreserved category. The 5th roster point is earmarked for ST (P) category. Roster points 6 and 7 are earmarked for unreserved category. Roster point 8 is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) category. Thereafter, roster points 9 to 13 are earmarked for unreserved category followed by roster point 14, which is earmarked for Scheduled Tribe (Hills) [ST (H)].