Rabindra Debbarma vs Union Of India And Ors

Heard Mr. C.S. Sinha, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner as well as Mr. D. Bhattacharya, learned G.A. appearing for the respondents No.1, 3 and 4 and Mr. N. Majumder, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.2 whereas Mr. H. Sarkar, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.5.

By means of this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the notification under No.F.1(8)-LAW(PA)/2001/6733-50 dated 27.01.2015. By the said notification dated 27.01.2015 [Annexure-3 to the writ petition], the respondent No.5 has been appointed to the post of Joint Secretary, Tripura Legislative Assembly-Group-A(Class-I gazetted) in the scale of pay of Rs.13,575-37,000/- (PB-IV) with Grade pay of Rs.5,600/-.

In brief, the petitioner's case is that as per the recruitment rules, the post of Joint Secretary under the Tripura Legislative Assembly is the solitary selection post to be filled up by promotion failing which by deputation. The post of Joint Secretary, according to the said recruitment rules [Annexure-2 to the writ petition] can be filled up by promotion from Deputy Secretaries of the Assembly Secretariat on the basis of seniority cum merit having at least two years service in the grade. The petitioner had the said required service in the grade, inasmuch as, he was appointed as the Deputy Secretary (Editing), Tripura Legislative Assembly on 03.05.2012 on promotion by the notification under No.F.1(8)-Law(PA)/2001 [Annexure-1 to the writ petition]. The respondent No.5 was appointed as the Deputy Secretary, Tripura Legislative Assembly on promotion by the notification No.F.1(6)- LAW(PA)/2001 dated 14.12.2012 [Annexure-R/10 to the reply filed by the respondent No.2]. The petitioner submitted representations on 15.12.2014 and 19.12.2014 for considering him for promotion to the post of the Joint Secretary. But without disposal of his representation, the respondent No.5 was appointed as the Joint Secretary by the notification dated 27.01.2015 [Annexure-3 to the writ petition]. The petitioner has asserted in Para-3 of the writ petition that the petitioner has eligibility to be appointed as the Joint Secretary but superseding him his junior, the respondent No.5 who was promoted to the post of Deputy Secretary vide the notification dated 14.12.2012 has been promoted to the post of Joint Secretary by the notification dated 27.01.2015. According to the petitioner, such action is grossly illegal and has caused supersession of the petitioner. Hence, the petitioner has urged this court for interfering the said notification dated 27.01.2015 and directing the respondents No.1 to 4 to appoint him as the Joint Secretary from the day when the respondent No.5 was appointed as the Joint Secretary, Tripura Legislative Assembly with all consequential service benefits.

The respondents No.1 and 3 by filing their reply have contended that they have been made parties in this writ petition unnecessarily as at no point of time, they have taken any decision which has been challenged by the petitioner. In their reply, they have only asserted that there is no such rule that in the selection post, junior in the feeder cadre cannot be appointed by not appointing the senior depending on merit. The respondent No.2 being the principal-respondent has however projected a different story. According to them, the post of Joint Secretary is the selection post. The respondent No.2 has further asserted that appointment to the post of Joint Secretary under Tripura Legislative Assembly is done by promotion from the "Administration Branch, i.e. Committee." There is no scope of appointment on promotion to the post of Joint Secretary from any other feeder branch. In the Tripura Legislative Assembly, initial appointments are made to three different branches viz.(1) Administration, (2) Reporting and (3) Editing. According to the respondent No.2, so far the reporting and editing branches are concerned, in the Tripura Legislative Assembly for those branches "the highest promotional post" is Deputy Secretary. Since the establishment of Tripura Legislative Assembly, no Deputy Secretary from the other two branches namely Editing and Translation got promotion to the post of Joint Secretary in conformity to the said Rules. As such, there is no illegality.

In support of that contention, the respondent No.2 has produced various recruitment rules including the recruitment rules for Deputy Secretary (Reporting) and Deputy Secretary(Editing). That apart, minutes of the DPC held on 15.12.2014 [Annexure-R/11] have been produced along with the writ petition. What is surprising is that the petitioner being a Deputy Secretary (Editing) was the member of the DPC and he is signatory to the recommendation made by the DPC for promotion to the post of Joint Secretary. The relevant part of the DPC minutes is extracted hereunder:

"First of all the vacancy of Joint Secretary was discussed. There is 1(one) post of Joint Secretary which falls under the UR Category. As per Recruitment Rules the post of Joint Secretary is to be filled up from Deputy Secretaries of Assembly Secretariat on the basis of seniority cum merit having at least 2(two) years service in the grade. As per seniority list place before the DPC, Smt. Lily Debbarma is the senior most Deputy Secretary who is found to be eligible for promotion to the post of Joint Secretary in the pay scale of Rs.13,575-37000/- P.B.-4 with grade pay of Rs.5600/-. There is no adverse report or any vigilance report placed before the DPC against her. The DPC recommends the name of Smt. Lily Debbarma, Deputy Secretary for promotion to the post of Joint Secretary. "

The respondent No.5 by filing a separate reply has for all purposes adopted the reply of the respondent No.2. The crux of her reply can be gathered from the following passage as extracted from Para-7 :

"As per Recruitment Rules promotion to the post of Joint Secretary from the post of Deputy Secretary, number of sanction post is 1(one). U.R. post is occupied by me w.e.f. 27.01.2015. Since there are no eligible UR candidate and my first entry into service is on 06.07.1981. The said post of Joint Secretary was to be filled up by promotion from the branch/unit of Committee."

By the recruitment rules, the respondent No.5 has implied the recruitment rules for Deputy Secretary under the Tripura Legislative Assembly but her statement that there is only one post of Deputy Secretary is not correct as in the recruitment rules available for the post of Deputy Secretary [see the compilation of Recruitment Rules of Tripura Legislative Assembly, Secretariat as amended till the year 2013], it surfaces that there are two posts of Deputy Secretary.

By the order dated 14.11.2019, the respondent No.2 was directed to produce that seniority list which was considered by the DPC while recommending the respondent No.5 for appointment as Joint Secretary by promotion. Accordingly, the seniority list has been produced. From the seniority list it appears that the separate seniority lists for the post of Deputy Secretary (reporting), Deputy Secretary and Deputy Secretary (Editing) are maintained by the Tripura Legislative Assembly.

Mr. C.S. Sinha, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has emphatically referred the words "from Deputy Secretaries on the basis of seniority cum merit". Thus, according to him, the Deputy Secretary from all branches is entitled to be considered. But arbitrarily the petitioner's case was not considered by the DPC and hence, the entire exercise turns dehorse the rules and liable to be set aside.

Mr. N. Majumder, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.2 and Mr. H. Sarkar, learned counsel appearing for the respondent No.5 have submitted that the recruitment rules for the post of Joint Secretary has excluded the posts of Deputy Secretary (Editing) and Deputy Secretary (Reporting) from the feeder posts. Therefore, the petitioner has failed to make out any foundation to sustain the challenge.

Having appreciated the submission of the counsel for the parties and scrutinised the records, this court is of the view that interpretation of Rule 11 of the recruitment rules for the post of Joint Secretary under the Tripura Legislative Assembly Secretariat [Annexure-2 to the writ petition] as advanced by the respondents No.2 and 5 is acceptable, inasmuch as, the Deputy Secretary (Editing) and Deputy Secretary (Reporting) cannot be read within the category of "Deputy Secretaries" inasmuch as, the posts of Deputy Secretary (Editing) and Deputy Secretary (Reporting) fall under a distinct category. Thus, the petitioner has not been considered rightly by the said DPC. Moreover, the petitioner being a member of the DPC did not raise any objection. That apart, the petitioner could not lay any foundation for interference by this court.

In the result, the writ petition stands dismissed.

No costs.

The records as produced by Mr. N. Majumder, learned counsel is returned.