Case Note & Summary
The petitioners, Ashok Wankar, Pramod Gargilwar, Chhatrapati Sonule, and Kishor Lakde, were employees of Zilla Parishad, Chandrapur, holding posts of Superintendent and Section Officer. They were promoted on 23/01/2006 against reserved vacancies, subject to the condition that they must obtain a Caste Validity Certificate from the competent Caste Scrutiny Committee. The promotion orders were issued, but the condition required validation of their caste claims. The petitioners subsequently obtained the necessary certificates from the Caste Scrutiny Committee on various dates, but the delay in obtaining them was not attributable to any fault on their part. The Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, however, fixed the deemed date of promotion from the date of the Caste Validity Certificate, which resulted in loss of seniority and monetary benefits for the petitioners. Aggrieved by this, the petitioners filed a writ petition before the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, seeking a declaration that their deemed date of promotion should be the date of the promotion order (23/01/2006) and not the date of validation of their caste certificates. The respondents raised two main contentions: first, that the writ petition was not maintainable because an alternate remedy of appeal to the Divisional Commissioner was available; and second, that the petitioners had delayed the proceedings before the Caste Scrutiny Committee and were therefore not entitled to relief. The Court rejected the first contention, holding that the availability of an alternate remedy is not an absolute bar to entertaining a writ petition, especially when detailed affidavits had been filed and legal submissions on the point of law had been made. On the merits, the Court found that no rule or regulation was pointed out by the respondents that would empower the Chief Executive Officer to fix the deemed date of promotion from the date of the Caste Scrutiny Committee's order. In the absence of any such rule, the deemed date of promotion must necessarily be the date on which the promotion order was actually issued. The Court declared that the deemed date of promotion for all the petitioners shall be 23/01/2006, the date of the promotion order, and directed the respondents to grant the petitioners all benefits of the promotional post, including pay and other benefits, on that basis.
Headnote
A) Service Law - Promotion - Deemed Date - No statutory rule cited - Employees promoted against reserved posts on condition of obtaining caste validity certificate - Delay in obtaining certificate not attributable to them - Held that deemed date of promotion must be the date of promotion order (23/01/2006), not the date of caste certificate validation, as there is no rule empowering authority to fix otherwise (Paras 3-4, 7-8). B) Constitutional Law - Writs - Alternate Remedy - Maintainability - Availability of alternate remedy by appeal to Divisional Commissioner does not bar writ petition when detailed affidavits filed and legal submissions made; relegation at that stage would be futile - Held that first contention of respondent rejected (Paras 5-6).
Issue of Consideration
Whether the deemed date of promotion for employees promoted against reserved posts subject to obtaining caste validity certificate should be the date of the promotion order or the date of issuance of the caste validity certificate, when the delay in obtaining the certificate is not attributable to the employees
Final Decision
Writ petition allowed. Deemed date of promotion for all petitioners shall be 23/01/2006, the date of the promotion order, with all consequential pay and benefits.
Law Points
- Deemed date of promotion for employees promoted against reserved vacancies on condition of producing caste validity certificate should be the date of promotion order when delay in obtaining certificate was not attributable to them
- Availability of alternate remedy is not an absolute bar to entertaining writ petition when detailed affidavits and legal submissions have been made
- In the absence of any rule or regulation empowering authority to fix deemed date of promotion from date of caste certificate validation
- it cannot be done
