Sanjeev Kumar Jha v. Department of Personnel and Training Abd Ors

S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J (JUDGE)

NAJMI WAZIRI, J (JUDGE) SEPTEMBER 13, 2013 RN

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of Decision: 13.9.2013 + WP(C) NO.3189 OF 2012 SANJEEV KUMAR JHA ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Aditya Ranjan, Advocate. versus DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL & TRAINING & ORS. ..... Respondents Through: Mr. R.V.Sinha and Mr.R.N.Singh, Advocates. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. RAVINDRA BHAT HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAJMI WAZIRI % MR. JUSTICE S.RAVINDRA BHAT (Open Court) 1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal dated 10th May, 2012. 2. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was successful in the Civil Service Examination (CSE) in the year 2010 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), securing 915th rank. He was selected to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He approached the Tribunal contending that even though he indicated the relevant place while filling the form as Jharkhand (his home State), he was mistakenly allotted the Chattisgarh State Cadre. Accordingly, a violation of paragraph 7 (a) and 8 (ii) of the Cadre Allocation Policy, 2008 is alleged. 3. In support of his contention, it was argued by the learned counsel that the petitioner being in unreserved category candidate was entitled to be re-considered in respect of two converted Scheduled Caste (Insider) vacancies in accordance with paragraph 7(a). The method of allocation in respect of insider/vacancies was indicated in paragraph 8. 4. The Tribunal took note of the facts presented before it as well as the decisions on behalf of the parties. The petitioner has relied upon the decision in C.M. Thri Vikrama Varma v. Aninash Mohanty & Ors, (2007) 7 SCC 385 and submitted that even though a public servant has no right to be allocated to a certain cadre, yet the Government or the Executive Court has to treat him in a fair, equitable manner and apply the guidelines in question or in a non- discriminatory manner. 5. The Central Government had relied upon paragraph 5 of the CAP, 2008 which was applicable at the relevant time. Its contention was that the petitioner was deemed not to have indicated his Cadre since the choice of preference of Jharkhand was not number one but number seven. In addition, it was argued that on an overall consideration of the materials on record and taking into account the petitioner's ranking, Chattisgarh Cadre was appropriate one to be allocated to him. The Tribunal held as follows: "24. At this stage, even if there is some repetition, we intend to recapitulate some of the facts. The applicant having been selected for appointment to IAS in CSE-2010, it is noted that he declared in Column-19 in his application form that Jharkhand is his home state but in Columnn-20 which mandates the applicant to furnish his order of preference for various state cadres for which he would like to be considered and to start with the first preference to the last preference. The Jharkhand as his Home State he gave his preference as Number 7. Once the Insider UR vacancy for UR was consumed by Sh. Sinha with 60th rank, in UR category the applicant was treated as Outsider. The respondents, therefore, did not consider him with 915th rank for the Insider vacancies as the only Insider (UR category) was allocated to Shri Sinha who had 60th rank. It is noted that he gave his 1st preference as UP, 2nd preference as MP, 3rd Bihar, 4th Rajasthan, 5th Haryana, 6th as Punjab, 7th as Jharkhand and so on. He was allocated Chattisgarh Cadre i.e. his 13th preference against the Outsider vacancy on the basis of his rank in the merit list, available Outsider UR vacancies and preference of cadre indicated in the application forum, the respondents allocated him in the UR Outsider Category to Chattisgarh Cadre. 25. We note that the 1st respondent maintained several rosters as envisaged in Para 2 and 4 of the CAP 2008. As point running vacancy based roster showing SC, ST, OBC and UR points which are maintained for each cadre properly and use the same f