S WALI SHAH Vs. ACCOUNTANT GENERAL, J&K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CONSEQUENT upon the integration of the State Audit and Accounts with the centre with effect from 1. 5. 1958, the employees of the erstwhile office of the Accountant Gen. were absorbed at various levels of the Central Audit and accounts service in accordance with the recommendations of a committee called Assessment Committee consisting of the representative of the Centre and the State. At the relevant time, there were seventy four Superintendents -cum -senior Accounts including the petitioners in the office of the Accountant General Jammu & Kashmir. The Committee classified them as under : -

(2.) THE petitioners were placed in class b iii. They were appointed permanently as Upper Division clerks and allowed to officiate as SAS Accountants, their confirmation being dependant on their passing or being exempted from such test as the Comptroller and Auditor General might prescribe. The Comptroller and Auditor General prescribed a modified test for them. It appears that the petitioners neither attempted nor even passed the test. They however continued to work as officiating SAS Accountants except for a short time when they were decategorised, but on their protest they were restored to their original rank and status as officiating SAS Accountants. While the petitioners were working as officiating SAS Accountants, several vacancies arose in the next higher rank of the Accounts Officers. The Recruitment, rules provide that the posts in the Accounts Officer cadre are to be filled in by promotion from SAS/ SARS cadre. The petitioners not however, considered for promotion on the ground that they had not passed the modified test. The result was that those vacancies fell in the hands of respondents 2 to 30, who were among those who had either passed the SAS Examination or were exempted permanently from passing such examination. These promotions were ordered , from the year 1969 on wards. By means of this petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution which was filed in the year 1977, the petitioners have challenged these promotions as being violative of Art. 6 of the Constitution.

(3.) IT is a common ground that, according to the Recruitment rules, the posts in the Accounts Officers cadre are to be filled in by promotion from SAS/SARS cadre. The admitted position is that the petitioners were working as officiating SAS Accountants at the relevant time and that they were not considered for promotion as Accounts Officers. The reason given is that the petitioners had not passed the SAS examination and as such they could not be treated as regular SAS Accountants and consequently they were not eligible for promotion as Accounts Officers. For this, reliance has been placed on the provisions of Rule 183 of of the Chapter V of the Manual of Standing orders Administrative of the Audits and Accounts Department. Rule 180 provides as under : -