TMI Blog2018 (4) TMI 1973X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ection process. The classification given by the State authorities in the Annual Confidential Reports is not binding on the Selection Committee. Such classification is within the prerogative of the Selection Committee and no reasons need be recorded, though it is desirable that in a case of grading at variance with that of the State Government, reasons be recorded. This Court has repeatedly observed and concluded that the recommendations of the Selection Committee cannot be challenged except on the ground of mala fides or serious violation of the statutory rules. The courts cannot sit as an appellate authority or an umpire to examine the recommendations of the Selection Committee like a Court of Appeal. This discretion has been given to the Selection Committee only, and the courts rarely sits as a Court of Appeal to examine the selection of a candidate; nor is it the business of the Court to examine each candidate and record its opinion. Since the Selection Committee constituted by the UPSC is manned by experts in the field, their assessment have to be trusted, unless it is actuated with malice or bristles with mala fides or arbitrariness. The High Court was of the view that s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aid post. In the seniority list of State Police Service (for short 'SPS') Officers, the first Respondent, at the given point of time, stood at serial No. 11. Since the fourth person in the seniority list was over-aged, the first Respondent was effectively considered at serial No. 10 in the seniority list for the purpose of this case. For the year 2008, there were ten vacancies for SPS to the Indian Police Service (for short, 'IPS'), which is an All India Service. The appointment by promotion to the IPS is governed by the IPS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Regulations'). The zone of consideration is three times the number of vacancies and, therefore, at least thirty names ought to be considered for appointment to the IPS. The names of the first thirty officers in the SPS including the name of the first Respondent, were placed before the Selection Committee for consideration for appointment to the IPS for the year 2008. The name of the first Respondent was considered at serial No. 9 in the zone of consideration. On an oral assessment of her service records, the Selection Committee graded the first Respondent as G ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bers of the State Police Service to be included in the list shall be determined by the Central Government in consultation with the State government concerned, and shall not exceed the number of substantive vacancies as on the first day of January of the year in which the meeting is held, in the posts available for them under Rule 9 of the Recruitment Rules. The date and venue of the meeting of the Committee to make the selection shall be determined by the Commission; Provided that no meeting of the Committee shall be held, and no list for the year in question shall be prepared when; a. there are no substantive vacancies as on the first day of January of the year in the posts available for the members of the state Police Service under Rule 9 of the recruitment rules; or b. the Central Government in consultation with the State Government decides that no recruitment shall be made during the year to the substantive vacancies as on the first day of January of the year in the posts available for the members of the State Police Service under Rule 9 of the Recruitment Rules; Provided further that where no meeting of the Committee could be held during a year for any reason other ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted. 5(3) The Committee shall not consider the cases of the members of the State Police Service who have attained the age of 54 years on the first day of January of the year for which the Select List is prepared: Provided that a member of the State Police Service whose name appears in the Select List prepared for the earlier year before the date of the meeting of the Committee and who has not been appointed to the service only because he was included provisionally in that Select List shall be considered for inclusion in the fresh list to be prepared by the Committee, even if he has in the meanwhile, attained the age of fifty four years. Provided further that a member of the State Police Service who has attained the age of fifty four years on the first day of January of the year for which the Select List is prepared shall be considered by the Committee, if he was eligible for consideration on the first day of January of the year or any of the years immediately preceding the year in which such meeting is held but could not be considered as no meeting of the Committee was held during such preceding year or years under item (b) of the proviso to Sub-Regulation(1). 5(3)(A) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ice shall be treated as having come to the notice of the State only if the details of the same have been communicated to the Central Government and the Central Government is satisfied that the details furnished by the State Government have a bearing on the suitability of the officer and investigation thereof is essential. 5 (6) Omitted. 5 (7) Deleted. 6. Ms. Binu Tamta, learned Counsel representing the Appellant herein, while taking us to the material on record, submits that the CAT, as well as the High Court, has fallen into error by virtually assessing the performance of the first Respondent as an appellate authority and that too wrongly; they have erred in taking into consideration the Annual Confidential Reports from 1.4.2003 to 31.03.2008; the relevant Annual Confidential Reports to be considered for the purpose of the selection in question were from 1.4.2002 to 31.03.2007, the Selection Committee has rightly taken into consideration the Annual Confidential Reports of those years only, and therefore the impugned judgments are bad in law; the selection is to be made by the Selection Committee not only based on Annual Confidential Reports in respect of the concerned off ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n, it cannot be said that such thinking on the subject of erosion is not wholly unjustified. Selection on merits confers wide discretion on the authority making the selection, and in the absence of reasons there would be no objectivity, and the members of the State Civil Service might receive discriminatory treatment by the Selection Committee. On these, among other things, he prayed for dismissal of the appeal. 8. This Court in the case of R.S. Dass v. Union of India (supra) has observed that in order to Rule out any grievance, actual or fancied, some objective basis for categorisation in the manner indicated should be laid down. If such objective basis is made known, and after categorisation the selection of junior officers in preference to senior officers is made, the Selection Committee need not state reasons, and the same would not be violative of the canons of justice. In order to ward off any suspicion in the minds of the candidates, this Court suggested to the government and the authorities concerned that there should be some basis for the categorisation of the officers, and such basis should be objective and not merely subjective evaluation, and furthermore such basis s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d and after deliberation will record the assessment of the Committee in the Assessment Sheet comprising the Assessment Matrix [Officer x Year-wise assessment] and the column for Overall Assessment of the officers. 3.2 As the crucial date for preparation of the Select List is 1st January of the year of the Select List, the ACRs upto the year ending 31st March (where ACRs are written on a financial year-wise basis) or 31st December (where ACRs are written on calendar year-wise basis) of the year preceding the year of the Select List are to be taken into consideration by the Selection Committee. 4.1 The Selection Committee will go through the records of the eligible officers and make their assessment after deliberating on the quality of the officer as indicated in the various columns recorded by the Reporting/Reviewing Officer/Accepting Authority in the ACRs for different years and then finally arrive at the classification to be assigned to each officer. The Selection Committee would take into account orders regarding appreciation for the meritorious work done by the concerned officers. Similarly it would also keep in view orders awarding penalties or any adverse remarks communi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re should be an in-depth analysis of the performance of the officer before he is rated as 'Outstanding'. There should also be consistency in the grading given by different Committees in different years. (iii) Considering the fact that such 'Outstanding' officers are going to supersede other officers, there is a greater need to ensure that such an officer has met the stringent norms of being graded as 'Outstanding'. For such purposes, the ACRs of the concerned officer should elaborate his significant achievements or exceptional nature of work in the areas of law and order, disaster management, implementation of developmental schemes etc. (iv) Postings are not within the competence of an officer for which he ought not to be discriminated. However, the Committee may also like to examine the various positions that such 'Outstanding' officers have occupied and the nature of duties performed by him over the years in the process of assessing the officer. B. Very Good , if in the opinion of the Selection Committee, his ACRs reflect that the officer has done highly meritorious work and possesses positive attributes and these characteristics are refl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Report, because sometimes the overall grading in an ACR may be inconsistent with the grading under various parameters or attributes. This virtually means that the Selection Committee will not act as a post office but will take a decision on due application of mind. Para 4.4 mentions the overall assessment/categorisation of officers. It states that while finalising the overall assessment of the officers as per para 3.1, an officer shall be graded as Outstanding , Very Good , Good and Unfit . The para states in detail as to how such grading should be assigned, and on what basis. 9. The Regulations as well as the Guidelines are to be applied jointly at the time of making the selection list. In our considered opinion, the Regulations and the Guidelines jointly prescribe adequate procedure and they form a complete code in themselves. In accordance with the provisions of the Regulations and Guidelines, the Selection Committee, presided over by the Chairman/Member of the UPSC, makes a list for the selection of SPS Officers for promotion to the IPS. As per Regulation 5(1) of the Regulations, the number of members of the SPS to be included in the Select List of a particular recru ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on of the first Respondent that the Selection Committee ought to have graded her as Outstanding or at least Very Good , on an overall relative assessment of her service records, and consequently she would have been selected for the year 2008. It is her further contention that on a comparative assessment of her service records with those of the private Respondents, who were junior to her, she could not have been excluded from the selection list as her service records are better than those of almost all of them. Thus, according to her, the Selection Committee has acted expressly in an arbitrary manner in the said process of selection by superseding the first Respondent. 11. The CAT and the High Court have virtually assessed the performance of the first Respondent afresh, mainly taking into account the service records for the period from 1.4.2003 to 31.03.2008, and have directed the official Respondents to appoint her to the IPS by notionally treating such appointment with effect from the date of notification, i.e., with effect from 5.5.2009 by giving her appropriate place of seniority amongst the private Respondents. 12. In our considered opinion, the error that crept into t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e coming to their conclusion. But, in terms of the Regulations and the Guidelines framed therein, for categorising the officers, the Selection Committee was required to consider the overall relative assessment of the service records of each of the eligible officers. The Selection Committee is not guided merely by the grading recorded in the Annual Confidential Reports but makes its own assessment on the basis of the quality of the officer as indicated in various columns recorded by the Reporting/Reviewing/Accepting Authority thereunder. In other words, the Selection Committee is not required to compulsorily accept the gradings given in the Annual Confidential Reports as it would amount to merely acting as a post office and the whole process would be nothing but a farce. The grading recorded in the Annual Confidential Report of a particular year may differ from the grading arrived at by the Selection Committee in respect of the said Annual Confidential Report depending on all relevant material. 14. Learned Counsel for the UPSC, drawing the attention of the Court to the contents of the affidavit filed by the UPSC before the CAT, submits that the Selection Committee also reviews an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tances and hence it may not be proper to say that the expert body's opinion is not subject to judicial review in all circumstances. In our constitutional scheme, the decision of the Selection Committee/Board of Appointment cannot be said to be final and absolute. Any other view will have a very dangerous consequence and one must remind oneself of the famous words of Lord Acton Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely . The aforementioned principle has to be kept in mind while deciding such cases. However, in the matter on hand, it is abundantly clear from the affidavit filed by the UPSC that the Selection Committee which is nothing but an expert body had carefully examined and scrutinised the experience, Annual Confidential Reports and other relevant factors which were required to be considered before selecting the eligible candidates for the IPS. The Selection Committee had in fact scrutinised the merits and demerits of each candidate taking into consideration the various factors as required, and its recommendations were sent to the UPSC. It is the settled legal position that the Courts have to show deference and consideration to the recommendations of a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Selection Committee constituted by the UPSC is manned by experts in the field, we have to trust their assessment unless it is actuated with malice or bristles with mala fides or arbitrariness. 17. In the case of Union of India v. A.K. Narula reported in (2007) 11 SCC 10, this Court in similar circumstances observed thus: 15. The guidelines give a certain amount of play in the joints to DPC by providing that it need not be guided by the overall grading recorded in CRs, but may make its own assessment on the basis of the entries in CRs. DPC is required to make an overall assessment of the performance of each candidate separately, but by adopting the same standards, yardsticks and norms. It is only when the process of assessment is vitiated either on the ground of bias, mala fides or arbitrariness, that the selection calls for interference. Where DPC has proceeded in a fair, impartial and reasonable manner, by applying the same yardstick and norms to all candidates and there is no arbitrariness in the process of assessment by DPC, the court will not interfere (vide SBI v. Mohd. Mynuddin [(1987) 4 SCC 486: 1987 SCC (L S) 464: (1987) 5 ATC 59], UPSC v. Hiranyalal Dev [(1988 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nally. The applicant-Respondent No. 1 was duly considered by the Selection Committee. However, on an overall assessment of her service records, her name was not included in the select list due to the statutory limit of its size and as officers with higher grading were available for inclusion in the select list as per the provisions of Regulation 5(5) of the Regulations. 20. So far as the case of Respondent No. 6 - Srimati V. Jayashree is concerned, initially some disciplinary proceedings were pending against her. Though the disciplinary proceedings were pending, the name of Srimati V. Jayashree, Respondent No. 6 herein, on an overall relative assessment of her service records, was provisionally included in the select list, subject to clearance in the disciplinary proceedings. Since the State Government had certified the integrity of the said officer, in view of the fact that the disciplinary proceedings ended with a negative report, her name was finally included in the select list. Such procedure was adopted by the Selection Committee in accordance with the first proviso to Regulation 5(5) of the Regulations, which reads thus: Provided that the name of an officer so included ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court while coming to their conclusion. The High Court has strangely made out a fresh additional point in favour of the first Respondent by observing that, on perusal of the records maintained by the Selection Committee, the High Court was not able to find the grading of the officers recorded by the State Government. In other words, the High Court was of the view that since the records submitted before the Selection Committee did not include the grading of the officers recorded by the State Government, the Selection Committee did not have an opportunity to take into account the grading recorded by the State Government while coming to its conclusion. We do not agree with the said observations. The CAT while deciding the matter has taken into account all the records including the grading of the State Government, which means such records were very much available at the time of consideration before the Selection Committee, as well as at the time of decision by the CAT. In this context, it is brought to the notice of the Court by the learned Counsel representing the UPSC that after the selection process is over, the Annual Confidential Reports maintained by the State Government with the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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