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TMI Blog1979 (3) TMI 204X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... State of Punjab. In 1966-67 an adverse entry was made in the confidential record of the appellant while he was working under one Shri Sewa Singh, District and Sessions Judge, Amritsar. That entry was communicated to the appellant whereupon, he made a representation against it but that has still not been disposed of, for one reason or another. The State Government forwarded the representation to Shri Sewa Singh, who declined to express his views upon it unless asked by the High Court to do so. Nothing further has been done in the matter and no decision has yet been taken on the question whether the adverse entry was justified and whether the various contentions raised by the appellant in his representation are well-founded. The appellant worked in various capacities after 1966- 67, earning good reports all along. He was permitted to cross the first efficiency bar under an order of the State Government dated June 14, 1966 and the second efficiency bar on July 20, 1971. By an order dated July 3, 1971 published in the Punjab Government Gazette on July 23, the Government promoted respondents 8 to 12 to the selection grade of the Punjab Civil Service cadre. Respondent 15 was simila ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the nature of a mere executive instruction, that it went beyond the scope of the statutory regulations, that the provision requiring the production of the 'integrity certificate' was unguided and was likely to lead to arbitrariness and unreasonableness and that therefore, Resolution No. 1.1 was ultra vires of Regulations 4 and 5. The entire record of the Selection Committee was placed by the State Government before the High Court in the Letters Patent Appeal, from a perusal of which the High Court came to the conclusion that the decision of the Commttee not to include the appellant's name in the Select List was not based solely on the ground that he was unable to produce the integrity certificate and that the Committee had given another cogent reason for its decision viz., that the appellant was not suitable for being placed on the Select List otherwise also. Since inclusion in the select list for the purposes of promotion to the Indian Administrative Service was to be made on the basis of merit- cum-seniority, the Committee, according to the High Court, was justified in not including the name of the appellant in that list if, in its opinion, he was not otherwise suitab ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under rule 9 of the recruitment rules or 10 per cent of the senior duty posts borne on the cadre of the State or group of States whichever is greater: Provided that in the year ending on the 31st December, 1969, the maxmimum limit, imposed by this sub-regulation, may be exceeded to such extent as may be determined by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government concerned. (2) The selection for inclusion in such list shall be based on merit and suitablity in all respects with due regard to seniority. (3) The names of the officers included in the list shall be arranged in order of seniority in the State Civil Service: Provided that any junior officer who in the opinion of the committee is of exceptional merit and suitability may be assigned a place in the list higher than that of officers senior to him. (4) The list so prepared shall be reviewed and revised every year. (5) If in the process of selection, review or revision it is proposed to supersede any member of the State Civil Service, the Committee shall record its reasons for the proposed supersession. The All India Services Manual, Part II, which is issued under the authority of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... discretion. Moreover, it is nowhere laid down as to how the integrity certificate is to be issued. No criteria is mentioned in resolution 1.1. No guideline is provided. Hence it can lead to arbitrariness and unreasonableness in certain cases........ I have, therefore, no hesitation in holding that resolution 1.1 contravenes the regulations, which cannot legally be sustained and is struck down as ultra vires of regulations 4 and 5. We find it impossible to sustain this conclusion and are of the opinion that the learned Single Judge of the High Court was right in upholding the validity of resolution 1.1 on the ground that it is not inconsistent with any of the regulations. Clause (2) of Regulation 5 provides that selection for inclusion in the Select List shall be based on merit and suitability in all respects, with due regard to seniority. In other words, the test for inclusion in the Select List is merit-cum-seniority. Neither the Indian Administrative Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1954 under which the Regulations are framed nor indeed the provisions of the All India Services Act, 61 of 1951, under which the Rules are made, furnish any guidelines for assessing merit or suitabili ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iscretion to assess the integrity of the officers by granting or refusing the integrity certificate at his sweet will. The State Government has to certify the integrity of the eligible candidate with reference to the entries in his annual confidential reports . We are, therefore, quite clear that the Letters Patent Bench of the High Court was in error in striking down resolution 1.1 as being ultra vires of Regulation 5. Both the resolutions 1.1 and 1.2, are in our opinion within the scope of the Regulations and are valid. Though the High Court was of the opinion that Resolution 1.1 is ultra vires of Regulation 5, it did not quash the decision of the Selection Committee because, having perused the record and proceedings of the Selection Committee (which were made available to it during the hearing of the Letters Patent Appeal), it found that the non-selection of the appellant was not based solely on the ground that the Chief Secretary had not issued an integrity certificate in his favour. The proceedings of the Selection Committee, according to the High Court, disclosed that the appellant was not selected for the reason also that he was not found suitable otherwise . The cou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... w that the adverse entry was made mala fide as alleged by him. The appellant submitted his representation again on December 19, 1971, as desired by the Government. After a detailed examination of that representation, it was decided by the Government that since the comments of the Reporting Officer of the High Court on the representation made by the appellant were not available, which was necessary for the proper disposal of the representation, a suitable note may be placed on the appellant's character roll alongwith the confidential report for the year 1966-67. An attested copy of that note is annexed to Shri Phuman Singh's affidavit as annexure 1. After setting out the facts and circumstances narrated above, that note says that in the absence of necessary comments of the authority concerned, it was not possible for the Government to take any decision on the merits of the representation made by the appellant. The principle is well-settled that in accordance with the rules of natural justice, an adverse report in a confidential roll cannot be acted upon to deny promotional opportunities unless it is communicated to the person concerned so that he has an opportunity to imp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a reason in support of the decision to supersede him. True, that it is not expected that the Selection Committee should give anything approaching the judgment of a Court, but it must at least state, as briefly as it may, why it came to the conclusion that the officer concerned was found to be not suitable for inclusion in the Select List. In the absence of any such reason, we are unable to agree with the High Court that the Selection Committee had another reason for not bringing the appellant on the Select List. In matters of this nature, particularly when the Select Lists have to be prepared and reviewed from year to year, it becomes difficult to work out the logical consequences of holding that the case of any particular officer ought to be reconsidered. But, inevitably, for reasons mentioned above, the case of the appellant shall have to be considered afresh by the Selection Committee. How best to do it has to be left to its wise discretion in the matter of details, but in order to eliminate, in so far as one may, chance of yet another litigation we ought to indicate the broad frame-work within which the Committee should act and the preliminary steps which the Government m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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