Veerender Singh Siradhana, J. - (1.) THE batch of writ applications and contempt petitions involves a common question of law and facts, and therefore, the writ applications have been taken up for final adjudication, at this stage, with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, by this common order.
(2.) THE petitioners are aggrieved of the downgrading assessments and remarks in their Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (for short, 'APARs'), for different periods in the instant case at hand i.e. SBCWP No. 2279/2013 (Smt. Geeta Singh v. State of Raj.), the relevant period is w.e.f. 2001 -2002 to 2008 -2009. It is pleaded case of the petitioners that the copies of the APARs were made available in the Month of December, 2012, in response to application(s) under the Provisions of Right to Information Act, 2005, and it was only thereafter the fact of downgraded APARs, by the authorities, without recording any reason plausible and acceptable, surfaced to their knowledge. The fact of downgrading of the APARs, in comparison to the previous year, was never ever communicated to the petitioners.
(3.) MR . R.N. Mathur, learned Sr. Counsel, reiterating the pleaded facts and grounds of the writ application, strenuously argued that the petitioners were never communicated of the down -gradation in the APARs. Thus, they were deprived of representation against such down gradation in time much less the relevant time, when such down gradation was resorted to. This act of the State -respondents is an indicative of gross violation of the principles of natural justice, and therefore, the down gradation deserves to be ignored and set aside. Moreover, the downfall from the previous year, recorded in the APARs, is an unreasonable and unjustified and not provided with reasons by the authorities concerned. There cannot be a fall in the qualities of an officer for a limited period and any such entry indicating a down fall, for a short period, in the performance can safely be presumed to be for bias and oblique motives, and therefore, deserves to be ignored on that count alone.;