A. M. Khanwilkar, J. - (1.) These appeals emanate from the judgment and order dated 20th May, 2010 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi in L.P.A. No.546 of 2003 and order dated 11th December, 2013 passed in Civil Review No. 68 of 2011, whereby the High Court upheld the decision of the Single Judge, with minor modifications and declared that the past service of the respondent in the previous company of the appellant could not be forfeited for all purposes in the event of an inter-company transfer on personal grounds at his request and dismissed the review petition against the said judgment on the ground of unexplained delay.
(2.) The respondent, a graduate in Chemical Engineering, was appointed on 27th June, 1990 in E-2 Grade and joined the same on 4th August, 1990 in Dankuni Coal Complex (for short "DCC"), of the appellant company. On a request made by the respondent, the Personnel Manager of the appellant company issued a transfer order being No.C-5A(iii)/51434(Trans)/199 dated 23rd April, 1991 transferring the respondent from DCC to Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (for short "CMPDIL"), a subsidiary of the appellant company, in his existing capacity i.e. E-2 Grade. The transfer notice made it clear that since the transfer had been made at the instance of the respondent himself, his seniority in the E-2 Grade would be reckoned from the date he joined the new organisation, CMPDIL. Accordingly, the respondent joined CMPDIL on 15th May, 1991. The prevailing policy for determination of seniority of executives on inter-company transfers at the time of the joining of the respondent, was as follows: "11. Determination of seniority of executives in E-1 to E-4 grades on inter-company transfers This issue has two aspects: (a) Inter-company transfer effected on administrative grounds:- (b) Inter-company transfer effected at the request of the executive concerned on personal grounds. According to the existing system, the officers in E-1 to E-4 grades belong to the respective company cadres on asin-where-is basis. Their career growth upto E-5 grade is within the company. When an executive in these grades moves from one company to the other, he gets absorbed in the appropriate cadre of that company. 11.1 The Committee recommends that: (i) When an inter company transfer is effected on administrative grounds the seniority of the executive shall be fixed in the company to which he is transferred taking into account his date of entry into the grade. (ii) When the inter-company transfer is effected on personal grounds at the request of the executive concerned, his seniority in the company to which he is transferred, shall be fixed as if he entered the grade on the date of his assumption of charge in the new company. In other words, such executive will lose his past seniority in the grade." This policy was further clarified by way of an Office Memorandum dated 5th June, 1985, issued by the General Manager (Personnel) which read as follows: "Under the present policy of the company, when the intercompany transfer is effected on personal grounds at the request of the executive concerned, his her seniority in the company to which he/she is transferred, is fixed as if he/she entered the grade on the date of his/her assumption of charge in the new company and the executive loses his/her past seniority in the grade. An issue has been raised whether in such cases the period of service in a grade put in by the executive in the previous company will also count towards eligibility for promotion or not. 2. In this connection, it is clarified that while the name of the officer transferred on request will be placed at the bottom of the seniority list in his/her grade in the new company when the officer immediately senior to his/her in the new company becomes eligible for promotion, say after one year, the transferee will also become eligible for consideration for promotion provided he/she put in the minimum prescribed grade in the previous company. However, if the Officer immediately senior to the transferee in the new company has put in less than the minimum prescribed period of service, say six months, in the grade the transferor becomes eligible for promotion even though the transferee might have put in more than the requisite service in the grade prior to his/her transfer. 3. Pending cases may be disposed of on the basis of the above clarification. However, past cases will not be reopened. This issues with the approval of Competent Authority."
(3.) The respondent claims that in September 1993, the appellant company held its departmental promotion committee after which several employees were promoted from the E-2 Grade to the E-3 Grade but the respondent was overlooked for promotion. The reason given to the respondent was that his transfer to CMPDIL was done at his own request and his promotion would be considered only after he completed 3 (three) years of work experience at CMPDIL, which was the requisite period for promotion from E-2 to E-3.;