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Judgment
L. Narasimha Reddy, J
The applicants are working as Senior Accountants in the various offices, attached to the Controller General of Accounts, the 2nd respondent herein. Some of them are said to be holding the post of Assistant Accounts Officer (AAO) on ad hoc basis.
The promotion from the post of Senior Accountant is to AAO, on clearance of the AAO (Civil) Examination. The Examination comprises of eight papers. It is stated that relaxation was given to the participants in the Examination to the effect that in case a candidate scores certain percentage of marks in a paper, he need not repeat that, when he appears in the next Examination, to clear the remaining papers.
The 2nd respondent proposed to change the pattern of the Examination completely, and issued OM dated 15.01.2020 in this behalf. The detailed pattern of the Examination is also mentioned therein. In this pattern also, exemption is provided from re-appearing in a paper in which the candidate has secured 50% or 45% marks, as the case may be. The grievance of the applicants is that they are not permitted to carry forward the papers in which they have passed in the previous pattern of Examination. It is also stated that the facility of extending the grace marks up to 10, is also done away with. This OA is filed challenging the OM dated 15.01.2020, to the extent it has disallowed carrying forward of the performance in the Examination conducted earlier, on the basis of the circular dated 08.06.2006. Direction is also sought for continuing the facility of addition of 10 grace marks.
The applicants contend that the AAO (Civil) Examination is a tough one, and hardly there are instances where a candidate cleared eight papers, at a time. They contend that realising the difficulty in clearing the Examination, the facility of carrying forward the cleared papers, as well as awarding grace marks, was provided, and it is being discontinued without any basis.
We heard Shri D. P. Sharma, learned counsel for the applicants, and Shri R. K. Jain, learned counsel for the respondents.
The Regulations for conducting of the Examination for appointment to the post of Junior Accounts Officer (JAO), which has since been re-designated as AAO, were framed in the year 2006. Regulations 7 and 8 thereof are relevant for the purpose of this OA. The same read as under:
"7. RESULTS/PASS MARKS:
A candidate who has passed all 8 papers and also qualifies the examination on Computers will be declared as Passed and will be eligible for promotion as Junior Accounts Officer. In order to pass in a paper a candidate should secure 55% (50% in the case of Paper-1 and Paper-4) where upon he/she will be exempt from reappearing in that paper. For SC/ST candidates the pass mark will be 50% (45% in the case of Paper-1 and Paper-4).
EXEMPTIONS:
Consequent to the introduction of the revised syllabus for the examination to be conducted from the year 2006 onwards, the exemption allowed to be carried from the existing subject of the old syllabus t the new papers in the revised syllabus will be as brought out in Annexure-III. Candidates who have passed the final examination of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountant/Institute of Chartered Accountants of India will be exempted from appearing in paper 8 on "Commercial and Management Accounts" of the Junior Accounts Officer (Civil) Examination Regulation 2006."
From the above, it is evident that in case a candidate did not clear all the papers in an attempt, he need not repeat those papers which he has cleared earlier. Similar exemption, which existed prior to 2006, was also continued. The respondents have also provided for the grant of grace marks, in case that helped the candidates to clear a paper or the examination.
The respondents intended to change the pattern of the Examination in a substantial manner. The details thereof were furnished in OM dated 15.01.2020. Here again, the facility of exempting the candidates from re-appearing in the papers in which they have passed, is provided for under clauses 10.1 and 10.2. The grievance of the applicants is that the exemptions secured under the Regulations of 2006, are treated as not valid. Clauses 10.1 and 10.2 read as under:
"10.1 A candidate who passes any paper of the examination by securing 50% or 45%, as the case may be, will be exempted from re-appearing in that paper subject to the condition that such exemption will be valid for the duration of the permissible 6 attempts counted from the candidate's first appearance in any paper of the examination.
10.2 Exemptions secured under the Assistant Accounts Officer (Civil) Examination Regulations 2006 and/or earlier regulations will not be valid in the examinations to be conducted under the Assistant Accounts Officer (Civil) Examination Regulations 2020."
It hardly needs any mention that it is always for the concerned Department, to evolve the scheme of the examination, and the Courts would loathe to interfere in such matters. When the pattern of the examination is completely changed, it would be difficult for the respondents to extend the benefit of exemption under the old pattern. Across the bar, the learned counsel for the respondents has stated that some of the applicants are appearing in the Examinations for almost past two decades, and they were not able to clear them. We do not intend to delve deep into that.
It is not as if the facility of exemption from passing the papers is not provided under the new system. Once there is a radical transformation in the pattern of the Examination, the performance in the earlier Examinations cannot be assimilated into the new one. The applicants do not have a vested right to insist that they must be permitted to continue their appearance in the same examination for decades together. The respondents have every right, and in fact, are under obligation to step up the levels of efficiency. Acceding to the request of the applicants would lead to rewarding non performance.
We do not find any merit in the OA. The same is accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
Pending MAs also stand disposed of.