P. Venkatarama Reddi, J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The 1st respondent herein belonging to A.P. Police Service of the rank of Superintendent of Police, filed an application before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad Bench, in the year 2002 questioning the two notifications dated 21-1-2002 and 15-2-2002 issued by the Central Government selecting and appointing certain police officers of Andhra Pradesh State cadre to the Indian Police Service against the vacancies of 1998 and 1999. It has been the case of the 1st respondent that despite his outstanding service he has not been selected whereas officers having inferior merit were selected. The main contention before the Tribunal was that there was no proper assessment of merit by the Selection Committee and the award and commendations which he got and the outstanding grading given in the ACRs for as many as four years were not duly taken into account by the selecting body. He claimed to possess superior merit over the three respondents who were senior to him and who were selected and appointed by the Government. The Tribunal did not accept the contention of the respondent. It dismissed the application while observing thus : ". . . . . . On careful scrutiny of the ACRs of the applicant and other eligible candidates in the list, we are satisfied that the official respondents have considered the merits and demerits of each and every candidate while notional benefits keeping open the said two posts for consideration for Selection from others in the eligibility list. Though it is pointed out by the learned counsel for the applicant that the applicant has been recommended Presidents Police Medal for distinquished service rendered by him and this fact has not been taken into consideration by the said Committee, it is found that the said Police Medal has been awarded to the applicant on the Republic Day of 2001 i.e., nearly after one year from the date on which the Selection Committee met i.e., 22-12-1999 for preparation of the select lists for the years 1996-1997, 1998 and 1999. As already pointed out by us, whatever awards given to the applicant during various years prior to 22-12-1999 are noted in the ACRs of the respective years of the applicant and they were taken into consideration by the Selection Committee in giving the grading to the applicant. Thus it is found that the Selection Committee has taken into consideration all the relevant facts in making in-depth assessment of the candidates of the eligibility lists of the relevant years 1998 and 1999."
(3.) Aggrieved by the said order, the 1st respondent filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. Apart from the prayer to quash the order of the Tribunal and the two notifications issued by the Central Government in 2002, the first respondent sought for the direction to set aside the appointments of respondents 5 to 7 and to convene a fresh Selection Committee for re-assessment of comparative merit on the basis of the service records and not confining the consideration to ACRs only.;