Raghunath Prasad vs The State of Bihar and Others

Heard learned counsel for the appellant and the State. This appeal is directed against the order dated 29.6.2005 passed in CWJC No. 10522 of 2002 whereby the writ application filed by the petitioner-appellant for shifting the date of his promotion to the rank of Executive Engineer from 11.3.2002 to 16.5.1998 has been dismissed on the ground that he has not challenged the validity of the order of promotion of his juniors nor they have been made party.

It is contended by the learned counsel for the appellant that the appellant was eligible for promotion from an earlier date when his juniors were promoted but he has been denied such promotion not because of any fault on his part but because of the laches on the part of the respondents and its officials in not producing the relevant ACRs before the competent authority considering the question of promotion.

No officer should suffer because of the laches on the part of the superior officers of the department. In that view of the matter, the authority should consider the matter and fix the date of promotion taking into consideration the ACR and other materials from the date when the persons junior to the appellant were promoted. We are again emphasising that the authority should keep in mind that for the laches on their part in not producing the ACR, the appellant should not suffer. Once the promotion is granted to the appellant from an earlier date which was denied to him because of the fault of the authority, it goes without saying that he will be entitled to all the monetary benefits from that date. In the result the appeal is allowed as above and the impugned order is set aside.