G.R.Bhattacharjee, J. - (1.) -This writ petition relates to grievance of the petitioner concerning his promotion in service. The petitioner joined the Indian Army in 1963 as a Regular Commissioned Officer. The petitioner is now holding the rank of Lt. Col. and he could not thereafter qualify for promotion to the rank of Col. Even at the time of promotion to the rank of Lt. Col. he could qualify only on second consideration and as such lost the seniority of one year vis-a-vis his original batch-mates and thus became an officer of 1964 batch in place of 1963 batch for the purpose of future promotion. An officer of the rank of the petitioner is given three considerations for selection and promotion to the next higher rank as follows : (a) Fresh consideration, (b) First review, and (c) Final review.
(2.) If the officer is not found fit for promotion even after the final review, he is treated as finally superseded and his case is not considered any further except as a special review case. In case an officer is given some redress by the competent authority on his statutory/non-statutory complaint or otherwise resulting in a change of career profile, the officer is given corresponding special review(s). According to respondents the petitioner has been given three considerations and also one special review at the appropriate stage, but he was not found fit for promotion to the rank of Col. and as such, all chances of consideration having been spent out, the petitioner is entitled no more to further consideration for. promotion. The result of the final review was communicated to the petitioner by the letter dated the 31st May, 1989 which is Annexure-N to the writ petition wherein the petitioner was also informed that he was no longer eligible for further consideration for promotion as per existing rules. The petitioner submitted a statutory complaint dated the 15th February, 1990 to the Central Government against his supersession for promotion to the rank of Col. and the Central Government by letter dated the 7th January, 1991, Annexure-O to the writ petition informed that the Government after perusal of relevant records was satisfied that no injustice had been done to him and the statutory complaint was therefore rejected. The petitioner is aggrieved against the said letter of the Central Government dated the 7th January, 1991 and prays for quashing the same. The petitioner also prays for quashing the Circular of the Central Government dated the 25th May, 1992, Annexure-P to the writ petition by which the officers in general have been asked not to make repeated complaints on the same subject when there are no fresh or additional inputs to justify such an action and it has been stated therein that the officers violating orders and instructions regarding submission of complaints will render themselves liable to disciplinary/administrative action. The petitioner also prays for promotion to the rank of Col. and virtually that is the focal desideratum of the petitioner is this writ petition.
(3.) The petitioner was first considered for promotion to the rank of Col. by the Selection Board in September, 1985 which is termed as fresh consideration. The Annual Confidential Report (A.C.R.) of the petitioner upto 31st May, 1985 was before the Selection Board at the time of the fresh consideration in September, 1985. The petitioner was however not cleared for promotion. The petitioner had earlier submitted representation against adverse remarks in his A.C.R. By letter dated the 31st July, 1986, Annexure-I to the writ petition issued by the concerned authority it was informed that the assessment of the petitioner made by the Brig. A. S. Sharma, the then Chief Engineer and Initiating Officer (I.O.) as made in the Interim Confidential Report (I.C.R.) for the period from 1st June, 1984 to 4th December, 1984 and the assessment of Air Vice-Marshal, P. L. Purahit, the I.O. as made in the Annual Confidential Report (A.C.R.) for the period from 1st January, 1985 to 31st May, 1985 had been expunged. As we have seen under rules such expunction of certain adverse remarks entitled the petitioner to a special review at the fresh consideration level again. Such special consideration was accordingly given to the petitioner in August, 1986 on the basis of corrected records, but that also yielded no ultimate result in favour of the petitioner as was communicated by the Military Secretary vide Annexure J to the writ petition. By letter dated the 4th November, 1987 Annexure-K to the writ petition, the Military Secretary communicated that the Reviewing Officer's (R.O's) assessment in the A.C.R. of the petitioner for 1985-86 was expunged but the residual portion of the complaint of the petitioner had been rejected. After such expunction of certain adverse remarks for the period 1985-86 the petitioner was again considered for promotion in November, 1987 as a first review case on the basis of records minus the expunged remarks but this time also he was not cleared for promotion. Thereafter final review was given in November-December 1988 but the petitioner was not given promotion this time also. In view of the three normal chances of consideration given to the petitioner and also a special review at the appropriate level, namely, at the level of fresh consideration the petitioner is obviously entitled to no further consideration for promotion under the existing rules.;