PETITIONER:
C.M.D., PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK & ORS.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
RAJENDRA NATH CHAWLA
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 31/01/1996
BENCH:
RAMASWAMY, K.
HANSARIA B.L. (J)
MAJMUDAR S.B. (J)
CITATION:
1996 SCC (7) 282 JT 1996 (1) 685
1996 SCALE (1)660
ACT
HEADNOTE
JUDGMENT
JUDGMENTK.Ramaswamy.J.
Leave granted.
This appeal by special leave arises from the order of the Delhi High Court dated March 31, 1995 in Writ Petition No.5199 of 1993. On September 29, 1989, the appellant had issued a Circular letter No.43/89 stating that in accordance with the instructions of the Government, the Bank had decided to permit the officers, who were otherwise eligible for consideration for promotion but could not complete the rural branch experience for no fault of theirs, to be considered for promotion to Middle Management Grade Scale II [for short, ’M.M.6. Scale - II’] subject to the following conditions:
"(a) The promoted officers would be
straight away posted to rural
branches for requisite number of
years and under no circumstances
would be allowed to shift to other
areas before completion of their
tenure of rural posting. The
concerned officers have already
furnished the written undertaking
to this effect at the time of the
interview.
(b) The officers, who refuse
posting in Rural branches, as
mentioned in (a) above, shall be
debarred for consideration for
promotion for a period of two years
from the date they become eligible,
after fulfilling promotion
criteria, including necessary rural
branch service.
(c) In case of any reason, the
promotee officer has to leave the
rural branch prior to completion of
the tenure, he shall be reverted to
Junior Management Grade Scale I."
On January 9, 1990, the respondent was informed of the approval for his promotion to M.M.G. Scale - II and that he was allocated Punjab Zone subject to the conditions mentioned hereinbefore. He was also informed that in case he would refuse posting in rural branch, he shall be debarred for consideration for promotion for a period of 2 years from the date he becomes eligible after fulfilling the promotion criteria including necessary rural branch experience. The respondent, by his letter dated January 13, 1990, did not accept rural branch posting in Punjab Zone upon promotion. By letter dated January 13-15, 1990, the respondent was informed of the bar in terms of the promotion policy and guidelines and that since he had refused to accept the promotion vide his letter dated January 13, 1990 for promotion to M.M.G. Scale - II in terms of the promotion policy. he was debarred for consideration for promotion for a period of 2 years from the date he became eligible after fulfilling the promotion criteria including necessary rural branch experience.
On March 21, 1990, new promotion policy was circulated by the appellant in terms of the Government guidelines which provided, inter alia, that for an officer in Junior Management Grade Scale I (for short J.M.G. Scale - I) to become eligible for consideration for promotion to M.M.G. Scale - II, he should have 7 years of satisfactory service including minimum of two years’ service as an officer in rural branch. The Delhi Zonal Office by its circular dated September 16 1991, invited applications for rural posting in nearby region. The respondent had applied on October 15, 1991 for rural branch posting in Meerut region, Karnal region and Rohtak region. The head office of the appellant by its letter dated February 5, 1992 informed its Delhi Zonal Office that the request of the respondent for his posting in rural branch in Meerut has been acceded to and that on his appointment by promotion, he may immediately be relieved. After he had joined, by letter dated March 3, 1992 the respondent requested for cancellation of his posting for rural branch in Meerut region. Accordingly, the Delhi Zonal Office by letter dated May 4, 1992 informed him of cancellation of the posting in rural branch in Meerut region at his request. He was further informed that he was bound by the consequences of his refusal to the posting in terms of rules to guidelines enforced by the Government from time to time.
On October 15, 1992, Delhi Zonal Office in its circular No.40 of 1992 invited application for posting in rural branches in Delhi. The respondent did not offer himself for posting in any rural branch to complete the requisite two years’ rural posting which is a pre-condition for eligibility to be considered for promotion to M.M.G. Scale - II . When applications were invited for promotion to M.M G. Scale - II posts through circular dated March 30, 1993 to fill up the vacancies as per the eligibility criteria laid down in circular No.1271 dated March 2 the respondent had applied for consideration of his claim and inadvertently he was permitted to appear in the written examination and interview. Pursuant to his application in July, 1993, he was informed that he was not eligible to be considered for promotion in terms of the letter of debar issued to him. Consequently. the result of written examination and interview of the respondent were withheld. He was also informed by letter dated November 4, 1993 that he was debarred for promotion for a period of two years from the date he became ineligible for promotion until he fulfilled the promotion criteria including necessary rural branch experience which he did not fulfill for selection. Aggrieved thereby, he filed the above writ petition. The High Court has allowed the writ petition and quashed the aforesaid letter and directed the appellant to declare the result of the examination of the petitioner and that he was found qualified. to give promotion in either of the channels A and B, since the appellant was bound by terms of the promotion given as per 1991 policy read with circular of 1993.
At this stage, it may be relevant to mention that promotion policy for officers has been framed by the Board of Directors of the appellant exercising its statutory power under Regulation 17 of Punjab National Bank Officers (Service) Regulations (for short, ’the Regulation’) and Section 19 read with Section 12(2) of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Act, 1970 (for short, ’the Act’) in consultation with Reserve Bank of India and with previous sanction of the Central Government. According to the said policy, an officer for promotion from J.M.G. Scale I to M.M.G. Scale - II, should have 7 years of satisfactory service and experience inclusive of 2 years’ rural branch experience as a pre-condition to be eligible for consideration for promotion. The Board of Directors of the Bank (for short, ’the Board’) pursuant to Government guidelines decided to relax the pre-condition of rural posting by making it postcondition, since the Bank was not able to provide rural posting to all officers due to which a large number of officers could not fulfil the condition of rural posting for two years, although they had completed 7 years’ service. On December 2, 1987, the Board in its promotion policy in terms of Government guidelines clarified that the policy would be effective from 1988 selection onwards. It was also clarified that the condition of rural posting experience stipulating rural branch experience was to be operative from June 1, 1988 which was accordingly circulated to all the officers on February 22, 1988 which read thus:
"ELIGIBILITY
Officers promoted as Officer-
Incharge/Asstt. Manager before
20.8.80 shall rank for seniority
higher than the Accountants and
Technical/Specialist Officers in
JMG Scale-I in terms of Regulation
18(5).
Officer-Incharge/Asst. Manager and
other officers in Scale I with a
minimum of 7 years of satisfactory
service as shall be eligible
provided they have put in two years
of service in a rural branch."
In the circular No.1164 dated August 3, 1989, the officers were informed that written test was to be held or, September 17, 1989 with the stipulation that last date for receipt of application was 25th August, 1989. The eligibility criteria for selection was stipulated as under :
"Officers-Incharge/Asstt. Managers
and other officers in JMG Scale I
with a minimum of 7 years of
satisfactory service as on 31st
August, 1989 will be eligible for
appearing in the written test.
In terms of Government guidelines,
officers in JMG Scale 1 will be
eligible for promotion to Scale II
provided they have put in 2 years
of service in Rural branch.
However, the Officers who are
otherwise eligible for promotion in
terms of eligibility criteria but
could not complete the requisite
rural/semiurban experience for no
fault of theirs, may be considered
for promotion subject to the
stipulation that such officers if
approved would be immediately
posted in rural/semi-urban branches
for requisite no. of years and
under no circumstances they will be
allowed by the Bank to shift to
other areas before they complete
the tenure of rural semi-urban
posting. The individual officer
shall furnish an undertaking to
this effect while applying for the
written test. Please note that case
letter/roll no. will not be
allotted unless the candidate
furnishes unconditional undertaking
as per Proforma enclosed with the
application form to be submitted
for appearing in the written test.
The promotion also, therefore, became operative even from June 1, 1988.
On March 21, 1989, in terms of the guidelines of the Government of India, the Board approved the eligibility criteria regarding rural/semi-urban branch experience in the promotion policy thus:
"The officers who are otherwise
eligible for promotion in terms of
eligibility criteria but could not
complete the requisite rural/semi
urban experience for no fault of
theirs, may be considered for
promotion subject to the
stipulation that such officers, if
approved, would be immediately
posted in rural/semi-urban branches
for requisite number of years and
under no circumstances. they will
be allowed by the Bank to shift to
other areas before they
complete the tenure of rural/semi
urban posting. The individual
officer shall furnish an
undertaking to this effect during
selection process."
On September 29, 1989 in the circular No.43/89 applicability of the debar clause was considered. The circular read as under:
"The promotion policy for officers
staff contained in Personnel
Division Circular No.1081 dated
22nd February, 1988 provides that:-
"An Officer who refuses posting on
promotion or seek reversion after
accepting the promotion, will be
debarred from appearing in the next
two successive selections to the
next scale. In the case of an
Officer who seeks reversion after
accepting the promotion, the
selections for the purpose of
treating him as having been
debarred shall be reckoned from the
date succeeding the date of
reversion."
The Government guidelines in
respect of promotion of Officers
from JMG Scale - I to MMG Scale -
II provide that an Officer in JMG
Scale - I having 7 years of
satisfactory service shall be
legible for consideration for
promotion provided he has put in a
minimum of two years service in a
rural branch. As regards Specialist
Officer, he should take the
requisite rural branch experience
as and when he switches over to the
mainstream of banking. In
accordance with the instructions of
the Government for the above
selection, as a very special case,
it has been permitted that the
Officers who are otherwise eligible
for promotion but could not
complete the requisite rural branch
experience for no fault of theirs
may be considered for promotion to
MMG Scale - II subject to the
following stipulations:-
(a) The promoted Officer would be
straight away posted to rural
branches for requisite number of
years and under no circumstances
would be allowed to shift to other
areas before completion of their
tenure of rural posting. The
concerned Officers have already
furnished the written undertaking
to this effect at the time of the
interview.
(b) The Officers, who refuse
posting in rural branches, as
mentioned in (a) above, shall be
debarred for consideration of
promotion for a period of 2 years
from the date they become eligible,
after fulfilling the promotion
criteria, including necessary rural
branch service.
(c) In case for any reason, the
promotee Officer has to leave the
rural branch prior to completion of
the tenure, he shall be reverted to
JMG Scale - I." On August 16, 1989, Government of India, Ministry of Finance had granted formal relaxation to the appellant to the pre-condition of two years’ rural branch experience as a post-condition subject to the stipulations as under:
"Govt. is keen that guidelines with
regard to rural/semi urban posting
are implemented by the banks in
right earnestness. As a matter of
principle banks could not be given
any relaxation unless they satisfy
the Govt. that all
possible steps have been taken to
provide the requisite experience to
the eligible officers and there has
been no laxity on the part of the
management in this regard. However,
in view of the circumstances
explained by the bank, the Govt. is
agreeable, as a very special case
and for the last time, to your
proposal that officers who have not
acquired the requisite rural/semi
urban experience but are otherwise
eligible may also be considered for
promotion subject to the following
stipulations:-
i) Such promoted officers would be
straight away posted to rural/semi
urban areas, as the case may be,
for requisite number of years and
under no circumstances would they
be allowed to shift to other areas
before completion of their tenure
of rural/semi urban posting.
ii) Officers who have refused
posting in the rural/semi urban
areas earlier, as a result of which
they could not attain the
requisite experience, would not be
considered for promotion for a
period of two years from the date
they otherwise become eligible for
promotion.
iii) Bank would obtain a written
undertaking from such officers to
the effect that they will undergo
rural/semi urban posting on their
promotion and no exception will be
allowed. In case for any reason the
promoted officer has to
leave the rural/semi urban areas
prior to the completion of the
tenure, the bank would revert him
to his earlier grade.
iv) The bank will draw up an action
plan for posting officers at all
India level in order of seniority
to rural/semi urban areas against
the available slots. For this
purpose necessary changes in the
transfer policy of the bank to
permit inter-zonal transfers will
be effected immediately. The
progress made under this action
plan will be placed before the
Board of Directors on quarterly
basis and a copy of the action
plan/quarterly reviewed shall be
sent to the Banking Division."
In Circular No.1271 dated March 21, 1991 dealing with the promotion policy for officers, the eligibility criteria for promotion from JMG Scale - 1 to MMJ Scale - II was reiterated thus: "7 years of satisfactory service in JMG Scale -I, provided the officers had put in a minimum of two years service as an Officer in a rural branch" and in para XIV dealing with "Consequences of absence in interview, non approval and refusal to accept promotion", it was stated as under:
"i) If an Officer is ultimately not
selected for promotion in any
selection, he will be eligible to
participate in the next selection.
If an Officer is not selected for
promotion in two successive
selections, he will be eligible for
consideration after a gap of one
year. Thereafter, there shall be a
gap of two years for becoming
eligible for consideration.
ii) An Officer who refuses
promotion in higher grade will be
eligible for consideration for
promotion after a gap of two veers.
For the purpose of Sub-clause (i)
and (ii) mentioned above, the
period of one/two years shall be
reckoned from the date of approval
of the panel by the Competent
Authority and the ineligibility on
account of debar of one or two
years, as the case may be, shall
extend further upto 30th September,
in case the competent authority has
approved the panel in the first
half of the financial year or 31st
March in case the competent
authority has approved the panel in
the second half of the financial
year.
iii) An Officer who seeks reversion
after accepting the promotion will
be eligible for consideration for
promotion after a gap of two years.
The period of two years in this
case will be reckoned from the date
of reversion to lower
scale."
It would thus be clear that though the requirement of filfilling eligibility criteria, apart from 7 years’ satisfactory service as JMG Scale - I to MMG Scale - II and two years of service in rural/semi-urban branch, is a precondition for promotion, relaxation was given only due to the fact that some of the officers did not have the opportunity to complete two years’ experience, though they had acquired 7 years’ satisfactory qualifying service. Consequently, the policy was adopted to relax pre-condition by making it post promotional condition. After promotion to MMG Scale - II on completion of 2 years’ experience in the rural service, the officer becomes fully qualified and his ranking in seniority would be above his immediate Junior in the JMG Scale - I, As a consequence of the change in policy, two systems, i.e., A and B lists were prepared and they were to continue only for the purpose of identifying the officers.
The High Court found that due to omission of the words "for no fault of theirs", the relaxation of 2 years’ service had been granted and. therefore, from the initial date of the expiry of 2 years from the date of refusal, he had become eligible for consideration; and the denial thereof voilated his right under Article 14 and was invalid in law. It is contended by Shri V.R. Reddy, the learned Additional Solicitor General, that the view expressed by the High Court is not correct. Once an officer refuses to accept promotion, the bar of 2 years starts from the date of refusal and he becomes ineligible for consideration. Thus from the date of refusal, for two years he cannot be considered at all for promotion. But thereafter when he is to be considered for promotion he is further required to have fulfilled the additional promotion criteria, namely, two years’ experience of rural branch service. Till that happens he would not be entitled to be considered for promotion. The High Court has assumed that after two years of first rejection of promotion he should be considered for promotion even though he might not have completed two years of experience of rural branck service. Though opportunity was given to the respondent and after promotion he had joined, he himself got it cancelled. Therefore, from the date of cancellation, he became inaligible. He was, by inadvertent mistake, permitted to appear in the fixamination and interview but once he did not complete two years from the date of his refusal as mentioned in the narration of the facts or from the date of cancellation, after joining he did not become eligible until two years’ period expired. Shri Madhava Reddy, the learned senior counsel contended that the bar of two years would be applicable on his first declining to accept the promotion. Thereafter, on his appearing for selection and on being found selected, he must get the prhmntinn and if he declined to accept thereafter bar of two years would begin to run from that date. That had happened in the first offer of October 1991 and so in l993, he became eligible Though persons similarly situated had been promoted, the respondent was denied of the same and, therefore, the High Court was right in its conclusion that the respondent is entitled to the benefit. We find no force in the contention of Shri Madhava Reddy.
It is seen that on his refusal to accept the promotion or on its cancellation, he became ineligible for 2 years for consideration; the reason being that 2 years’ rural/semiurban service was a pre-condition which, though later on made a post-condition, remained to be a mandatory requirement. It was open to an officer, before he appeared in examination and interview not to opt for promotion. On exercise of option he was considered, promoted and was posted to rural service; the officer accepted the promotion and after he joined the M.M.G. Scale - II post, he was required to complete at least two years, if not already completed, or the residue period. If, without completing 2 years, on his own volition, he gets his posting cancclled and reverted to J.M.G. Scale-I and thereafter gets posted in an urban branch, the bar becomes operative and he becomes ineligible for promotion to M.M.G. Scale - II for two years from the date of cancellation. therefore, the question of putting him in A list or B list does not arise. That would arise only in a case where the officer, for no fault of him, was not given opportunity to serve in rural or semi-urban branch; even though he became qualified after putting in 7 years of satisfactory service, he will then be put in B list and on his selection and promotion as M.M.G. Scale - II, he will be posted vo rural/semi-urban branch. On his completion of 2 years’ service or the balance period, he would become fully qualified and secure seniority from the date his immediate junior in List A had joined the post of M.M.G. Scale - II. That facility is inapplicable to an officer who had refused, on his own volition, to accept the promotion and hat opted for urban posting. Thus the High Court was wholly wrong in its conclusion that the appellant became qualified in 1993. The view of the High Court that the bar of 2 years is not applicable to him, is clearly incorrect.
In the additional affidavit filed, the appellant has stated that no discrimination was shown to the respondent. All the officers are those who had not accepted promotion and had thus remained in urban branches but after promotion they opted for continuance in rural/semi-urban service for the period of 2 years.
The appeal is accordingly allowed. The order of the High Court is set aside. Consequently the writ petition stands dismissed. No costs.