TMI Blog1980 (10) TMI 208X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce at Madras on June 3, 1950 as a Lower Division Clerk. On passing the departmental examination he was promoted as an Upper Division Clerk on September 10, 1958. He joined SBCO-ICO on April 1, 1963 in the same capacity. He is due to retire on October 31, 1980. Respondent 1 to the Writ Petition is the Union of India, Respondent 2 is the Director General of P T and Respondents 3 and 4 are the Post Master Generals of the Delhi Circle and the Tamil Nadu Circle respectively. Respondents 5 to 13, though junior to Petitioner 1 in the Delhi Circle, have been promoted as Selection Grade Clerks/Head Clerks in supersession of him. Respondents 14 to 47, though junior to Petitioner 2 in the Tamil Nadu Circle, have been promoted as Selection Grade Clerks/Head Clerks in supersession of him. The petitioners, in effect challenge their supersession to the post of Selection Grade Clerks/Head Clerks. Until the year 1961, the Savings Bank work of the post office was under the supervision and control of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department of which the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is the Head. The branches of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department doing the Savings Bank work an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... how many UDCs from Audit Offices are working in the Circle, not what is the total strength of the UDC cadre in the Circle. On January 22, 1968, the President of India, acting in exercise of his powers under Article 309 of the Constitution, framed rules regulating the recruitment to the cadre of UDCs and other posts in the SBCO-ICO. The rules are called The Indian Posts Telegraphs (Clerks in Savings Bank Control and Internal Check Organisation) Recruitment Rules, 1969 . Brevity is obviously indicated and, for its sake, we will refer to these rules as the Recruitment Rules, 1969. Rule 4 provides that the method of recruitment to the various posts, the age limit, qualifications etc. shall be as specified in Columns 4 to 12 of the Schedule provide to the Rules. Column 4 of the Schedule provides that the post of Selection Grade UDCs is a non-Selection post. Column 9 provides that recruitment of Selection Grade UDCs will be exclusively by promotion. Column 10 provides that the appointment to the Selection Grade will be made from amongst Upper Division Clerks with 10 years of service in that grade in case of Audit office Staff, or with five years service in that grade in case of oth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arned Attorney General who appears for the Union of India and Shri Aneja who appears for the U.D.Cs. drawn from the other departments, have attempted to meet Shri Joseph's argument but we are left in no doubt that the policy adopted by the Union of India is discriminatory and unreasonable. Though it appears prima facie that U.D.Cs. in SBCO-ICO were drawn from four different sources, the sources are really two and not four. U.D.Cs. in that organisation were appointed from amongst those who were previously serving in the Audit Offices and secondly from amongst the other employees of the P T Department. The recruitment rules of 1969 make a classification amongst the U.D.Cs. by providing that in so far as the U.D.Cs. drawn from the Audit Offices are concerned they will be eligible for promotion to the Selection Grade/Head Clerks Cadre after they put in a service of 10 years in the new organisation. In regard to the U.D.Cs. drawn from the P and T Department, the rules provide that they will be eligible for such promotion on completing five years' service only. Bearing in mind that the posts in the Selection Grade/Head Clerks Cadre are non-selection posts to which appointments ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dre is formed by recruiting persons drawn from different departments of the Government, there would normally be no justification for discriminating between them by subjecting one class to more onerous terms in the matter of promotional chances. The impugned directives are therefore unconstitutional. Apart from this consideration, we are unable to understand how the Director General could issue any directive which is inconsistent with the Recruitment Rules of 1969 framed by the President in the exercise of his powers under Article 309 of the Constitution. Those rules do not provide for the kind of classification which is made by the Director General by his letters to the Heads of respective Circles of the new organisation. It may be recalled that the Recruitment Rules only provide for a classification on the basis of the length of service in the new organisation. Any directive which goes beyond it and superimposes a new criterion on the Rules will be bad as lacking in jurisdiction. No one can issue a direction which, in substance and effect, amounts to an amendment of the Rules made by the President under Article 309. That is elementary. We are unable to accept the learned Attorn ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ubjecting them to that hardship, they were given the option of joining the new organisation. Experience-wise also, there would appear to be fair justification for requiring them to put in longer service in the new organisation before they are eligible for promotion to the higher grade. That challenge has therefore to be repelled. In the result, we allow the writ petition partly and quash the directions issued by respondent 2 by his letters of May 16, 1975 and May 29,1965 to the effect that U.D.Cs. drawn from the Audit Offices will be eligible for promotion to the Selection Grade on the basis of 10 per cent of the posts held by them or to the Head Clerks' Cadre on the basis of 20 per cent of the posts held by them in SBCO-ICO. They and the other U.D.Cs. will accordingly be entitled equally to promotional opportunities. We direct that the petitioners, and others similarly situated as them, shall be promoted to the Selection Grade/ Head Clerks Cadre with effect from the dates on which they were due for promotion, by applying the test of seniority-cum-fitness. Since we have upheld the provision in Column 10 of item 3 of the Schedule to the Recruitment Rules, 1969, the petitioner ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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