Karnataka HC Orders Railway To Consider ST Assistant Audit Officer’s 2018 Promotion Recommendation For Vacancy Carried Forward 9 Years

The petitioner, a Scheduled Tribe employee, was appointed as an Auditor in 1996 and promoted as an Assistant Audit Officer in 2007.

Having completed the qualifying service, he became eligible for consideration for promotion as an Audit Officer.

A Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), in proceedings approved on 14–15 February 2018, found him fit and recommended him against roster point 14, reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category.

The respondents did not act on the recommendation, relying on a circular dated 3 April 2018 that changed the basis for determining the promotion-panel year, and the petitioner was later promoted in 2024.

The Central Administrative Tribunal dismissed his application; he challenged that decision before the High Court.

Under the applicable Recruitment Rules, promotion to Audit Officer was by promotion from the feeder cadre, subject to the prescribed qualifying service and selection process.

The Court applied the principle that an employee has a fundamental right to fair consideration for promotion, although no fundamental right to promotion itself exists.

It further held that a later circular changing the promotion-panel calendar could not defeat a claim based on a DPC recommendation made before the circular, or remove an existing vacancy from consideration.

The DPC had considered the petitioner, found him fit, and recommended him against roster point 14, which the Court noted was reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category; the relevant vacancy had remained unfilled for several years.

Because the DPC recommendation pre-dated the 3 April 2018 circular, the Court held that the circular could not be relied on to deny consideration under that recommendation.

The Tribunal therefore erred in treating the circular as an impediment to the petitioner’s claim.

Although the petitioner had since been promoted, that fact did not resolve his claim arising from the earlier recommendation.

It directed the respondents to consider the petitioner’s case for promotion in accordance with the DPC recommendation dated 15 February 2018 and to pass necessary orders in accordance with law within 12 weeks of receiving the Court’s order.