SUNITA CHANDEL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of present petition, petitioner has prayed for the following main relief(s):

(2.) Precisely, the facts of the case as emerge from the record are that petitioner herein was appointed as Assistant Master (English) at Sainik School, Sujanpur Tihra, District Hamirpur, H.P., on 1/1/2011. One Sh. S.K. Chadda, a regular TGT (English) performing the duties against this post till January 2018, applied for voluntary retirement from service with effect from 26/4/2018. On 23/1/2018, Sainik School originated proposal to fill up aforesaid post of PGT (English) by way of promotion and accordingly vide communication dtd. 23/1/2018 requested to Hony Secy Sainik Schools Society, MOD, New Delhi to release the vacancy of PGT (English) with effect from 26/4/2018. Before vacancy could be released by the society, respondent-school with the sole objective of sounding the eligible candidates and allowing them sufficient preparation time, decided to issue letter No. SSST/DPC/2018, dtd. 24/2/2018 to the two eligible candidates for the Departmental Promotion Committee i.e. petitioner and respondent No.4, who was appointed as Assistant Master (English) on 4/4/2011. Vide aforesaid letter, the provisions of the Society Rule Book about composition of Departmental Promotion Committee as well as the tests planned to be conducted as part of the Departmental Promotion Committee were intimated. The Syllabus of written examination was also specified and finally the Sainik School Society vide their letter No.10(5)/2011/D(SSC) dtd. 27/4/2018 released the vacancy of Master (English). On 7/5/2018 respondent-school as per Rule 5.27 of Rule Book issued by the Board of Governors, Sainik School Society constituted the Departmental Promotion Committee comprising of the following members:-

(3.) Though, the meetings of all the Departmental Promotion Committee in Sainik School are to be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the SOP on the subject issued vide Sainik Schools Society letter No.14(22)/SSS/2017, dtd. 24/8/2017, but since SOP does not specifically lay down details, such as syllabus for the written exam, the maximum marks for the written exam, the qualifying marks for written exam, details of what is to be assessed during the Teaching demonstration, and whether an interview is to be conducted or not, DPC member with a view to ensure transparency and fair play, decided to keep the DPC candidates updated about the syllabus and the suggested scheme of examination. The standard Operating Procedure (SOP) provided that relative weightage of various elements such as written test, teaching demonstration, ACRs of the last five years are to be seen by DPC while considering the case of the candidate for promotion to the post of PGT. On 11/6/2018 DPC conducted written exam in accordance with provisions of SOP on the subject. Entire proceedings of DPC were video recorded to ensure total transparency. Teaching demonstration was held in the topic chosen by the candidates themselves. Answer sheets of written examination were evaluated by an independent subject expert detailed by the State Education Department. Subsequently, on the basis of overall merit respondent No.4, Ms.Indu Puri came to be promoted to the post of PGT(English), as is evident from the proceedings of the DPC placed on record as Annexure R-3 by respondent No.1.