Brij Kishore Gupta v. Union of India

1. By this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioner who is an employee of the respondent no.2/employer/National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC Ltd.), seeks the relief of being granted various promotions and these reliefs are as per prayers (a) and (b) of the writ petition and which prayers read as under:- “PRAYER It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to pass or issue:- 2015:DHC:2371 (a) a writ, order or directions in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents hereto to immediately promote the Petitioner as follows:- Post Date Sr. Asstt. Engineer Grade E[2] w.e.f. 1.4.1994 Engineer Grade E2A w.e.f. 1.4.1995 Sr. Engineer Grade E[3] w.e.f. 1.4.1998 and allow all consequential benefits of payment of due of salary and allowances/pay fixation/increments/allowances/seniority, etc. which fell due to the Petitioner as a result of the aforesaid promotions; (b) a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondents hereto not to make any further promotion to the Juniors or equivalent of the Petitioner in the post of E-3, Sr. Engineer till such time the Petitioner is not considered and promoted as such;”

2. I may at this stage itself note that this writ petition is only pressed with respect to the claim of promotion and other reliefs for quashing of transfer order etc are not pressed.

3. The case of the petitioner for reliefs is in two parts. Firstly the petitioner claims that he should have been promoted from E-1 to E-2 Grade not from 1.1.1995 but earlier from 1.4.1994. The second part of the relief is that further promotions from Grade E-2 to Grades E2A and E-3 should have been granted in the relevant years 1995 and 1998 respectively but the same illegally have not been granted. Consequent promotions to further grades are also claimed. Be it noted that there are a total of 7 Grades for promotion in the respondent no.2 namely E-1, E-2, E2A, E-3, E-4, E-5 and E-6.

4. The promotion policy of the respondent no.2 is not disputed and the relevant clauses of the promotion policy for the claim of the petitioner for being promoted to the post of E2A read as under:- “3.[1] (a) 4.[5] Promotion of executives to positions in next higher grades will be on the basis of merit, efficiency grade service and suitability. In view of the fact that such merit, efficiency and suitability can be meaningfully determined on the basis of assessment of performance promotion of executives to available vacancies in grades upto and including E[6] will normally be made effective from standard date/dates. Meeting of the Corporate Promotion Committee for promotion of executives will be held once in a year. The eligibility of executives upto and including the grade of E[6] will be determined as on 1st of April with grace period of one month i.e.those who complete the eligibility period as on 30th April will come under the some of consideration. xxxxxxx The Appraisal System will be on a 5 Point Scale i.e. “Outstanding”, “Good” “Average”, “Below Average” and “Unsatisfactory”, as defined in the Appraisal formats. The final overall evaluation by the “Moderation Committee” will be taken into consideration for the purpose of aggregation and marks 5.[1] 6.[1] 6.[2] 6.[3] will be allotted to various ratings as follows: Rating For promotions upto E[4] For promotions from E[4] to E[5] and above *Outstanding 8 10 *Good 6 8 *Average 4 6 *Below Average 2 4 *Unsatisfactory 0 0 The eligibility period shall be three years for promotion of executives in all grades except in the case of E[2] to E2A where the eligibility period shall be one year. It is on completion of this minimum period as on the reference date, that an executive will be eligible for consideration for promotion to the next higher grade. xxxxxxxxxxx CMD shall have the powers to constitute Corporate Promotion Committee (CPC) as considered appropriate by him, from time to time. CPC will consider the suitability or otherwise of the eligible executives for promotion to the appropriate next higher grade, on the basis of their qualification, grade service, performance and potential as reflected in the Appraisal Reports, Interview (wherever applicable) and other documents, relevant records in the personal files and any other information/reports having a bearing on their suitability for assuming positions in the next higher grade. In addition to the above, the CPC shall interview the eligible executives in E[5] and E[6] grades, with a view to ascertain their suitability for the next higher position. 6.[4] 6.[6] 6.[7] 7.[1] The CPC shall take into consideration the performance Appraisal Reports including special Performance Report, if any: for the last 3 years. xxxxxxxxx The marks secured by each eligible executive from the Performance Appraisal Reports, Grade Service and marks awarded by CPC (wherever applicable) will be aggregated. Those executives who have been found suitable for promotion will be ranked in order of merit. Where aggregate of marks is the same they will be ranked in order of seniority. Subject to fulfillment of the principles minimum criteria and other conditions as laid down herein and subject to other relevant rules and orders in force in the company, the CPC will recommend for approval of the Chairman and Managing Director of any delegated authority, a panel of names of eligible executives, ranked in order of merit, who are considered suitable for promotion to specific appropriate positions in the next higher grades, where the Chairman and Managing Director himself is the Chairman of the CPC, the said panel will be deemed to have been approved. The panel to approved will constitute the basis and authority for promotion of executives to the appropriate higher grade. xxxxxxxxxxxx Factors which are to be taken into account for determining suitability for promotion of an executive and the weightage therefore shall be as under:a) Promotion of executives from the grades of E[1] to E[2], E2A to E[3] and E[3] to E[4]: Factors Maximum Marks i) Performance 24 Appraisal Ratings (for last 3 years ii) Grade Service Total 40 The marks for performance Appraisal Ratings will be as given in para 4.5. The marks for Grade Service will be as under:- Grade Service Marks 3 years 10 4 years 13 5 years & above 16 The 'Qualifying Marks’ for promotability will be 30 (Thirty). b) Promotion of executives from the grade of E[2] to E2A Factors Maximum Marks i) Performance Appraisal 8 Rating (for last years) ii) Grade Service 4