S.B. Sinha, J. - (1.) This writ application is directed against a judgment dated 2.9.97 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No. 132 of 1993, whereby and whereunder the application filed by the petitioner herein was dismissed.
(2.) The petitioner was appointed as Stenographer in the Central Excise Department on 4th June, 1971. He was promoted to the post of Inspector of Central Excise on 29th September, 1975 and joined the said post on 8th October, 1975. A seniority list of Inspector in the combined cadre of the Collectorate of Central Excise was published on 1st March, 1991, which was forwarded to the Collector of Central Excise, Bolpur, to which office the petitioner was attached, on 8th July, 1991. Allegedly on or about 18th June, 1970 Cochin Collectorate upgraded 24 Sub-Inspector to the post of Inspector and assigned seniority of the direct recruits and promotees above the upgraded Inspectors. Thereafter one Sri K. Krishnan, an upgraded Inspector moved a writ application before the Kerala High Court, questioning the said gradation list. By a judgment and order dated 20th March, 1997, the said seniority list was set aside. An appeal preferred there against was also dismissed, whereafter Cochin Collectorate rectified the seniority of all upgraded Inspectors. On or about 24th July, 1990 an application was made before the learned Tribunal and the learned Tribunal also delivered a judgment whereafter again the respondent authorities rectified the seniority list. The petitioner filed a representation before the concerned respondent for rectification of his seniority position which was rejected by an order dated 7th January, 1992. The petitioner preferred an appeal before the Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs for rectification of his seniority position on the ground that he had been appointed in the post in 1975. As he did not receive any reply within reasonable time, the said application was filed. It appears that on 21.5.93 the respondents issued a seniority list of Inspectors as on 1st March, 1993 in combined cadre of the Collectorate, whereafter they filed their reply before the learned Tribunal. The learned Tribunal, it appears, had only referred to certain judgments passed by the Tribunals and the Apex Court. The learned Tribunal has not arrived at a contrary finding that if the judgment of the Bench passed in O.A. 8 of 1988 disposed of on 24.7.90 was to be given effect to, the position might have been different. But the learned Tribunal proceeded on the basis of the decision of the Apex Court in S.B. Dogra v. State of Himachal Pradesh and others reported in (1992) 4 SCC 455 : [1992(5) SLR 628 (SC) ] and held, "Regarding the judgment of this Bench in O.A. 8 of 1988 disposed of on 24.7.1990 it appears that the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of S.B. Dogra (supra) disposed of in 1992 was not available to this Bench at that time. In such circumstances, with this later decision of Supreme Court staring at our face which has also been followed in two earlier judgments of this Bench, We consider ourselves bound by such decision and cannot, therefore, grant the desired relief to the petitioner."
(3.) In S.B. Dogra (supra) the Constitution Bench Judgment of the Apex Court in Direct Recruits Class II Engineering Officer's Association v. State of Maharashtra and Ors. reported in (1990) 2 S.C.C. 715 : [1990(2) SLR 769 (SC) ], had not been taken into consideration. It had only proceeded on the basis that the tribunal ought not to have disturbed the seniority list after long lapse of time when the respondent had not questioned the earlier seniority list which had been finalised in the year 1979. The proposition in Dogra's case, in our opinion, is not applicable to the fact of the present case. The learned Tribunal thus ought to have considered the matter on merit keeping in view its earlier decision as also the decision of the Kerala High Court in R.S. Gupta v. Union of India reported in AIR 1972 SC 2627 as also of the Supreme Court in Direct Recruit Class II Engineering Officers' Association (supra).;