TARUN Agarwala, J. - (1.) Three petitioners before this Court are aggrieved by the selection process initiated by the respondent bank for the post of Officer Scale-I. Since, common issues have been raised in all the three writ petitions therefore, the same are being decided together. For facility and convenience, the facts in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 6334 of 2003, Rajesh Kumar Agrawal v. Union of India & Ors. is being taken into consideration.
(2.) BRIEFLY stated the facts giving rise to the present writ petition is that is under Section 29 read with Section 17 of the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976, the Regional Rural Banks (Appointment and Promotion of the Officers and other Employees) Rules, 1998 were framed, published and gazetted in supersession of the earlier Rules and circulars. These rules were adopted by the respondent bank on 17-5-2000 with the consent of the sponsored bank. Pursuant to the aforesaid Rules, the respondent bank on 14-10-2000 notified 20 vacancies to be filled up by way of promotion on the post of the Officer Scale-I. The petitioners are working as clerk-cum-cashier and, under the Rules, were eligible to be promoted on the post of Officers Scale-I. Under the Rules of 1998, 50% of the posts of the Officers Scale-I was required to be filled up by direct recruitment through Banking Service Recruitment Board and 50% by promotion. The promotion was required to be made on the basis of seniority cum merit. The Rules further provides the selection process and for facility, the relevant rules is quoted hereunder : ' (j) Selection Process for promotees :, The selection shall be on the basis of performance in the written test,, interview and five years Performance Appraisal Reports as per the division of marks given below : (A) Written, Test 70 marks (B) Interview, 20 marks (C) Performance Appraisal Reports, 10 marks Total marks, 100 marks (A) Written Test (70 marks), The candidates shall be required to appear for written test comprising test in English and is in Banking Law,, practice and procedures including working procedures in the Regional Rural Bank concerned. 70 marks allotted to written test shall be further divided as under : English 35 marks Banking Law Practice and Procedures 35 marks Total marks 70 marks A list of only those candidates who secure a minimum of 40% marks each in English,, Banking Law,, practice and procedures shall be prepared. The Bank,, thereafter,, shall prepare the list of selected candidates in the order of seniority to the extent of two hundred percent of the vacancies for promotion for the purpose of calling for interview. (B) Interview (20 marks), There shall be no minimum qualifying marks in the interview. (C) Assessment of Performance Appraisal Report, The Performance Appraisal Reports for the proceeding three years of the concerned employees,, shall be considered. " In order to evolve a process for filling up the vacancies, the respondent bank, with the consent of the sponsored bank, issued a guideline/circular/policy dated 28-2-2001. The relevant provisions in this policy are Clause 4,10 and 11which are quoted under : "4. BASIS OF PROMOTION : The selection will be on the basis of 'seniority-cum-Merit'. The rank list of candidates securing the stipulated minimum qualifying marks will be prepared as per seniority and the select list drawn up to fill the vacancies declared. In other words, those candidates who secure the minimum qualifying marks will be short listed according to their seniority and the promotion will be made only on the basis of their seniority irrespective of their comparative merit. " 10. SELECTION PROCESS : The selection shall be on the basis of performance in the Written Test, Interview and performance appraisal Reports for preceding 5 years as per the division of marks given below : (A) WRITTEN TESt 70 Marks B] INTERVIEw 20 Marks C] PERFORMANCE APPRAISAl REPORTs 10 Marks TOTAl 100 Marks A. WRITTEN TEST [70 Marks] The candidates to be considered for promotion shall be required to appear for Written Test comprising of two parts : PART-A ENGLISH 35 Marks PART-B Banking Law, Practice and procedure including working procedure in the Bank 35 Marks A list of only those candidates who secure a minimum 40% marks that is 14 marks in each part shall be prepared. The Bank, thereafter shall prepare the list of selected candidates in the order of seniority to the extent of 200% of the vacancies for promotion for the purpose of calling for Interview. As per latest guidelines of Government of India where Test is the initial process of selection, a minimum qualifying marks have to be prescribed to a lesser extent of 5% in respect of SC/sd employees than what is specified for other general candidates. Therefore, for SC/st employees minimum qualifying marks shall be 35% i. e. ,12. 25 marks in each part. " 11. MINIMUM QUALIFYING MARKS: For the purpose of selection, keeping in view a minimum necessary merit requisite for efficiency of administration and shouldering onerous responsibility of the higher post an overall minimum qualifying marks of 50 out of 100 marks are fixed. The select list will be prepared as per seniority from amongst the candidates securing minimum qualifying marks of 50. " Pursuant to the vacancies being advertised, the petitioners applied for the post of Officer Scale-1 and appeared in the written test. All the petitioners qualified in the written test and thereafter, was called for the interview. However, the final select list which was published did not contain the names of the petitioners. It is alleged that the petitioners made various representations to the competent authority as well as filed an appeal before the appellate authority. In so far as the petitioner Rajesh Kumar Agrawal is concerned, it is alleged that no action was taken on his representation and consequently, he filed the present writ petition. In so far as the other petitioners are concerned, their appeals were rejected and consequently, they filed the writ petitions challenging the selection process.
(3.) HEARD Sri I. M. Tripathi, the learned Counsel for the petitioner, Sri S. K. Singh, the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner in other two writ petitions and Sri Yashwant Verma assisted by Ms. Roma Hamid for respondent Nos. 2 and 3. Sri I. M. Tripathi, the learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Rules of 1998 were not complied by the respondents bank and that the circular/policy dated 28-2-2001 was in violation of the Rules of 1998. It was contended that the candidates, who did not qualify in the written test had been selected and that the juniors had been promoted when, in fact, the promotion was required to be made on the basis of the seniority-cum-merit. It was further contended that the persons, who were caught using unfair means in the examination were eventually selected and promoted.;