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TMI Blog1988 (9) TMI 315X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Government of India the recommendations made by the Departmental Promotion Committee at the meeting would become invalid. The 1st respondent Somasundaram Viswanath was one of the Officers of the Indian Defence Accounts Service who came within the zone of consideration for promotion to the cadre of Controller of Defence Accounts. In order to make appropriate recommendations in that behalf the Departmental Promotion Committee convened its meeting on 7.8.1986. One of the members of the said Committee was the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence. Even though he had been informed about the date and time of the meeting, he could not be present at the meeting and in his absence the remaining members of the Committee made rec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ia could not override the rules made under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India and had, therefore, to be ignored. The Central Administrative Tribunal, which heard the case, proceeded to set aside the recommendations made by the Departmental Promotion Committee on the main ground that the Committee had not been properly constituted at the meeting held on 7.8.1986 because of the absence of the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence and, therefore, the proceedings of the Departmental Promotion Committee were not valid. The Tribunal directed that a fresh Departmental Promotion Committee may be convened for reconsidering the agenda which was before the Departmental Promotion Committee on 7 . 8 appellants ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f official memoranda issued by the Government of India from time to time in the form of departmental instructions prior to 30th December, 1976. The Government of India, however, issued an Office Memorandum bearing No. 22011/6/76-Estt(D) on 30.12.1976 consolidating all the prior administrative instructions governing the functioning of and the procedure to be followed by the Departmental Promotion Committees which were required to be constituted under the several rules of recruitment in force in the various departments of the Government of India. The preamble of the said Office Memorandum reads thus: "OFFICE MEMORANDUMSub: Procedure for making promotions and functioning of the Departmental Promotion Committee. The undersigned is directed t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ngs of the Departmental Promotion Committee provided that the member absent has been duly invited but he absented himself for some reason and that there was no deliberate attempt to exclude him from the deliberation of the Departmental Promotion Committee and that the majority of the members constituting the Departmental Promotion Committee are present in the meeting. In the instant case the only person who was absent at the meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee was the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence who could not attend the meeting because he had to be present in Parliament at the same time at which the Departmental Promotion Committee had to meet. The Chairman of the Departmental Promotion Committee wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e prevails. The question for consideration is whether in the instant case there is any conflict between the Rules and the Office Memorandum dated 30.12.1976, referred to above. We have already noticed that there are different rules framed under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India for making recruitments to services in the different departments and provisions have been made in them for the constitution of Departmental Promotion Committees for purposes of making recommendations with regard to promotions of officers from a lower cadre to a higher cadre. But these rules are to some extent skeletal in character. No provision has been made in any of them with regard to the procedure to be followed by the Departmental Promotion ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tions, period of validity of panels etc. etc. The Office Memorandum dated 30.12.1976, therefore, is in the nature of a complete code with regard to the topics dealt with by it. Unless there is anything in the Rules made under the proviso to article 309 of the Constitution of India, which is repugnant to the instructions contained in the Office Memorandum, the Office Memorandum which is apparently issued under article 73 of the Constitution of India is entitle to be treated as valid and binding on all concerned. In the instant case the Rules do not contain any of these details except indicating who are all the persons who constitute the Departmental Promotion Committee. We do not, therefore, find any repugnance between the Rules and the Offi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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