Orissa High Court
WP(C)/32769/2020 on 1 December, 2020
W.P.(C) No.32769 OF 2020
02 01.12.2020 The matter is taken up through video conferencing
mode.
Heard Er. N.K. Mohanty, learned counsel for the
petitioner and Mr. S.N. Nayak, learned Addl. Standing
Counsel for the State opposite parties.
The petitioner, who belongs to OT & AS officers
cadre, has filed this writ petition seeking direction to
opposite party no.1 to hold DPC for giving promotion to
the post of OFS-I(Jr. Branch) pursuant to relaxation of
Rule-6 of Odisha Financial Service Rules, 2011 issued
under Annexure-2 dated 13.02.2020.
Er. N.K. Mohanty, learned counsel for the
petitioner contended that posts of OFS-I(Jr. Branch) are
available and as such, pursuant to relaxation of Rule-6 of
Odisha Financial Service Rules, 2011 from 6 years to 4
years as one time measure, the vacant posts can be filled
up during 2020 by way of promotion and approval of the
Chief Minister has been obtained for one time relaxation
of the provision of 6 years to 4 years in exercise of power
conferred under Rule 19 of OFS Rules 2011. Now, the
year 2020 is going to close by 31st December and in the
event no promotion is given to the employees under OT &
AS cadre to OFS-I(Jr. Branch), it will prejudice to the
petitioner. Consequentially, the persons, who will join in
the promotional post of OFS-I(Jr. Branch) by way of
direct recruitment, they will march over the OT & AS
cadre people.
Mr. S.N. Nayak, learned Addl. Standing Counsel for
the State opposite parties contended that he has not
received any instructions from the Government and
therefore, he seeks time to obtain the same.
Considering the contentions raised by learned
counsel for the parties and after going through the
records, it appears that pursuant to Annexure-2 dated
13.02.2020, Rule 6 of the Odisha Finance Service Rules,
2011 has been relaxed for promotion to the post of OFS-
I(JB) cadre from 6 (six) years to 4(four) years of service in
Odisha Taxation and Accounts Services. Accordingly,
after relaxation of the rule, 146 OT & AS officers got
promotion during 2019. Now, there are 86 vacancies in
the rank of OFS-I(JB). In this regard the approval of Chief
Minister has been obtained from one time relaxation of
the provision of 6 years to 4 years in exercise of power
conferred under Rule 19 of OFS Rules, 2011 to fill up the
vacancies in OFS-I(JB) grade during 2020 by way of
promotion and the same has been duly concurred by the
OPSC vide Annexure-3 dated 05.05.2020. It is brought to
the notice of this Court that Government of Odisha
created extra 104 posts, i.e.OPS-I (JB) and out of that
50% is reserved for OT & AS officers whose are eligible to
be promoted. Therefore, total posts will be 138 (86+52.
Now, the year 2020 is going to close by 31st December
and in the event no promotion is given to the employees
under OT & AS cadre to OFS-I(Jr. Branch), it will
prejudice to the petitioner and consequentially, the
persons, who will join in the promotional post of OFS-
I(Jr. Branch) by way of direct recruitment, they will
march over the OT & AS cadre people. Once the Chief
Minister has approved for one time relaxation of the
provision of 6 years to 4 years in exercise of power
conferred under Rule 19 of OFS Rules, 2011 and the
OPSC has concurred it, there will no impediment on the
part of opposite party no.1 to convene DPC for promotion
to the post of OFS-I(JB).
In that view of the matter, this Court directs
opposite party no.1 to consider the aforesaid aspect and
convene DPC by end of December, 2020 to give
promotion to the officers under OT & AS cadre to the
promotional post of OFS-I(JB) without causing any
difficulty.
With the above observation and direction, the writ
petition stands disposed of.
As lockdown period is continuing for COVID-19,
learned counsel for the petitioner may utilize the soft
copy of this order available in the High Court's Website or
print out thereof at par with certified copies in the
manner prescribed vide Court's Notification No.4587
dated 25.3.2020
...............................
(DR. B.R. SARANGI) Alok JUDGE