Sealed Cover Procedure for Promotions is Inapplicable to Appointments via Limited Departmental Competitive Examination

The petitioner, a Junior Secretarial Assistant (JSA) in the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), was promoted to Senior Secretarial Assistant (SSA) on June 24, 2019, after successfully passing a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE)

Subsequently, the DDA received a complaint that a criminal charge-sheet under Section 498A IPC had been filed against the petitioner prior to his promotion

On October 5, 2020, the DDA issued an order withdrawing his promotion and reverting him to JSA, citing that the "sealed cover" procedure under DoPT OM dated September 14, 1992, applied to employees facing criminal prosecution

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) dismissed the petitioner’s challenge to this reversion on October 14, 2020, holding that the recommendations for his promotion should have been kept in a sealed cover pending the criminal case

Application of the Department of Personnel Training (DoPT) Office Memorandum (OM) No. 22011/4/91-Estt.(A) dated September 14, 1992

This OM, based on the Supreme Court judgment in Union of India v. K.V. Jankiraman (1991) 4 SCC 109, mandates the "sealed cover" procedure for Government servants facing disciplinary or criminal proceedings at the time of consideration by a Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC)

The court noted that these rules specifically govern promotions based on seniority-cum-merit or selection through a DPC, rather than appointments resulting from competitive examinations

The High Court found that both the DDA and the Tribunal erred in applying the DoPT OM dated September 14, 1992, to the petitioner's case. The court observed that the petitioner was appointed as an SSA following an LDCE (a competitive process), not a standard promotion via a DPC

Perusing the text of the 1992 OM, the court noted it creates a procedure specifically for "cases of Government servants to whom Sealed Cover Procedure will be applicable" during "consideration... by the Departmental Promotion Committee"

The DDA’s reliance on a 2022 Circular from the Department of Posts to justify applying this OM to LDCEs was rejected, as it was issued by a different department after the date of the petitioner's reversion and could not bind the petitioner or the court

Consequently, the court held that since the sealed cover procedure is restricted to DPC-led promotions, the reversion of the petitioner based on that procedure was legally unsustainable

The Court allowed the writ petition and quashed the Tribunal’s judgment dated October 14, 2020, as well as the DDA’s reversion order dated October 5, 2020

The Court directed the DDA to reinstate the petitioner as SSA forthwith

Furthermore, the court ordered that the results of the petitioner’s subsequent LDCE for the post of Assistant Section Officer (ASO), which were held in a sealed cover by interim order, be opened and acted upon. However, the petitioner was denied back wages for the period he served as JSA following his reversion