Union of India & Anr v. V K Jain

BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J

V.K.JAIN, J JANUARY 11,2012/'sn'

* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment delivered on 11.01.2012 + W.P.(C) 7902/2010 UNION OF INDIA & ANR. … Petitioners versus V K JAIN … Respondent Advocates who appeared in this case: For the Petitioners : Mr R.V.Sinha For the Respondent : Mr S.K.Das CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE BADAR DURREZ AHMED HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V.K.JAIN BADAR DURREZ AHMED (ORAL) 1. This petition is directed against the order dated 01.07.2010 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as "the said Tribunal") in O.A. No. 1280/2009. As indicated in the very first paragraph of the impugned order itself, the question for consideration in the said OA was whether an officer of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) could withdraw his option for absorption in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL) after having opted for the same. The history with regard to the employment of the respondent No.1 is given in paragraph 2 of the impugned decision which reads as under:- "2. The Applicant belongs to the erstwhile Posts and Telegraph Building Works (Group "A") Service, which he joined in the year 1977 as Assistant Executive Engineer(Civil). Subsequently, the Department of Posts and Telegraph was bifurcated into two departments, i.e., Department of Post and Department of Telecommunications in 1985. It is not contested that the first Respondent decided to continue with the unified cadre at Group "A" level for both the departments. As a result, Group "A" officers of civil wing could be posted either to the Department of Posts or to the DoT depending on the functional necessity and availability of posts. The Applicant rose in the hierarchy of his cadre and promoted as Supertending Engineer(Civil) on 21.03.1995. The new telecom policy introduced in the year 1997 created a company called BSNL. The intention of the Union Government was to transfer the entire telecom service to the newly formed BSNL by retaining the functions of policy formulation, licencing, wireless spectrum management, administrative control of PSUs etc. with the Union Government. A Circular to this effect was issued on 30.09.2000, which is placed at Annex A-3. By virtue of the order dated 30.09.2000, officers and staff were considered to have been transferred to BSNL along with their posts on as is where is basis, on deemed deputation, without deputation allowance, with effect from 1.10.2000, i.e., the date of taking over of telecom operations by the BSNL. Notwithstanding the fact that the Applicant was on deemed deputation to BSNL, he was transferred by order dated 4.02.2004(Annex.A-4) from the post of SE(P&D), BSNL, Jaipur to the Department of Posts at Delhi as SE(P&A). A chargesheet was issued to the Applicant under Rule 14 of the CCS(CCA) Rules 1965 in the year 2004. By an office order dated 24.03.2005, the Group "A" officers belonging to Civil, Electrical and Architecture Wings of the DoT were called upon to exercise their options for absorption in BSNL/MTNL. The general terms and conditions for absorption, inter alia, envisaged that : "2. The option once exercised shall be final and will not be allowed to be withdrawn by the concerned officer at a later stage. No officer shall give any conditional option." The clause 3 of the aforesaid circular reads thus: "Absorption of officers facing disciplinary/vigilance cases will be decided by the "Allocation Committee" consisting of Member (Services) as Chairman, Member(P), Member(Finance) and Additional Secretary(T) as its members. The office of DDG (Civil) in DoT will service the Allocation committee."" 2. A circular dated 24.03.2005 issued by the DoT indicated the scheme for calling for options of absorption of Group "A" officers of P&T Building Works (Group "A") Services in MTNL/BSNL. Paragraph 9 of the said circular specifically indicated that the option once exercised shall be final and will not be allowed to be withdrawn by the concerned officer at a later stage. Paragraph 10 of the sa