Denial of promotion post-retirement due to expunged adverse remark is illegal.

The applicant, a former Chief Accounts Officer in BSNL, retired on superannuation on March 31, 2019, from the E4 scale of pay.

He commenced service on November 4, 1981, was promoted to Accounts Officer on November 24, 2003, and then to Chief Accounts Officer on April 17, 2017.

According to BSNL's time-bound promotion policy, he was eligible for enhancement of pay to E5 scale from April 1, 2015.

However, he was denied this benefit due to an adverse entry in his APAR for 2012-13, preventing upgradation from April 1, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

This adverse entry for 2014-15 was later expunged by the General Manager on appeal.

The respondents contended that upgradation to E5 was only possible from April 1, 2019, but the applicant retired on March 31, 2019, precluding it.

They also stated that an erroneous order, Annexure R-2(c), was issued granting time-bound upgradation to E5.

The applicant argued that Annexure R-2(c) was issued with riders, such as online upgradation training, which he could not fulfill post-retirement.

1. Whether the applicant is eligible for pay scale upgradation from E4 to E5 with effect from April 1, 2015, notionally, with consequential monetary benefits.

2. Whether the condition of compulsory completion of online upgradation training can be insisted upon for an employee who has already retired from service for the grant of an upgraded pay scale.

The Tribunal applied the BSNL's time-bound promotion policy, specifically Annexure R-2(a) OM, which stipulated that eligibility for IDA scale upgradation is judged by a screening committee based on performance ratings in ACRs for the previous five years, requiring a residency period of five years in the current scale.

The principle that an adverse entry in an APAR, once expunged, should not impede promotion or upgradation was also inherently applied.

The court found that the applicant had completed the residency period of five years in the E4 scale by March 16, 2018, having reached E4 on March 16, 2013.

Crucially, the adverse entry in his APAR during 2014-15 (mistakenly stated as 2012-13 by respondents) was expunged on appeal, thus removing any impediment to his upgradation.

Although the applicant sought upgradation from April 1, 2015, the court determined that based on the residency period and the expunged APAR, there was no justification for denying him upgradation to E5 scale from March 16, 2018.

Annexure R-2(c) also indicated that he was granted upgradation from April 1, 2018.

The Tribunal held that imposing the condition of undergoing online upgradation training, as mentioned in Annexure R-2(c), was "illusory" for the applicant given his retirement on March 31, 2019.

The respondents were directed to grant the applicant the benefit of Annexure R-2(c), which granted him upgradation from April 1, 2018, "dehors such conditions" (without such conditions as online training), within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order.

The OA was disposed of accordingly.