- (1.) The challenge in the present writ petition is to the order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'), dated 20.11.2002, whereby on an Original Application filed by respondent-applicant under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985, the learned Tribunal has issued directions to the present petitioners to communicate to the applicant the downgraded Annual Confidential Reports after the year 1995 till 1998 alongwith the reasons for the same. Liberty was given to the respondent-applicant to make representation against the same and a direction was issued to the petitioners herein to consider and decide the same.
(2.) The respondent No. 1 (hereinafter referred to as the applicant), was working on the post of Senior Administrative Officer Grade-I in the Research and Development Center under the Ministry of Defence at Chandigarh. The grievance of the applicant was that she has not been considered fit for promotion to the post of Chief Administrative Officer on the basis of the entries in her Annual Confidential Reports and thus, the action of the petitioners is unjustified. Before we proceed further, the assessment of the applicant in her Annual Confidential Reports is as under :- 1994: Good 1995: Excellent 1996. : Very Good/Good (There are two entries because of two broken periods in the same year) 1997: Good 1998: Good 1999: Very Good.
(3.) The claim of the applicant before the learned Tribunal was that the 'Excellent' report for year 1995 has been down graded to 'Very Good/Good' in the year 1996 and thus, she has been down graded. Reliance was placed on a Supreme Court judgment, reported as "U.P. Jal Nigam and others v. Prabhat Chandra Jain and others, 1996 2 SCT 227", to contend that the Annual Confidential Reports cannot be down graded without recording the reason for such down grading. Therefore, downgrading of the applicant from 'Excellent' to 'Very Good/Good', without any reason is unjustified and consequently, the direction in the nature mentioned above, was issued.;