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| DB upholds 2009 National appointment of Junior Engineer | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 17: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has upheld an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal directing the authorities to treat the appointment of Raghu Singh Jandla as Junior Engineer (Electrical), Grade-II on a notional basis from August 22, 2009, the date when other candidates from the same selection process were appointed. The Court also upheld directions for refixation of his seniority, grant of consequential promotion benefits and coverage under the Old Pension Scheme.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Sindhu Sharma and Justice Shahzad Azeem dismissed the writ petition filed by the Union Territory authorities and held that no fault could be found with the Tribunal's decision. The Court observed that the candidate had been wrongly denied appointment despite securing higher merit than the last selected candidate in the RBA category and that such an error by the appointing authority could not be allowed to prejudice him.
The Court noted that Jandla had applied for the post pursuant to Advertisement Notices issued in 2007 and 2008 and had secured 59.54 points, which was higher than the 58.34 points obtained by the last selected RBA candidate. However, he was not considered under the RBA category on the ground that his category certificate under the 2005 Reservation Rules had been submitted after the cut-off date, though he had earlier submitted a certificate under the 1994 Rules and later furnished the fresh certificate before completion of the selection process.
The Bench further recorded that in an earlier round of litigation, the High Court had already directed the Services Selection Board to include him in the select list under the RBA category and recommend him for appointment. Pursuant to that direction, the Board recommended his name and the Government appointed him in July 2014. Since similarly placed candidates from the same process had been appointed on August 22, 2009, he later sought retrospective notional benefits.
Rejecting the plea of the petitioners that appointment cannot be pre-dated and seniority cannot be granted for a period in which actual service was not rendered, the Court held that notional seniority is an equitable exception where delay is solely attributable to the appointing authority. It said that a candidate wrongly excluded from appointment due to arbitrary action is entitled to notional seniority from the date similarly situated persons were appointed, along with consequential benefits.
The Bench also upheld the Tribunal's finding that once the candidate was held entitled to notional appointment from 2009, he would also be governed by the Old Pension Scheme, which was in force before the New Pension Scheme came into effect from January 1, 2010. With these observations, the Court dismissed the petition and connected applications. (JNF) |
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