Central Administrative Tribunal - Allahabad
Col Kshitij Sudhir Verma vs Survey Of India on 31 March, 2023
OA No. 237 of 2023
Reserved
(On 28.03.2023 on interim relief)
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
ALLAHABAD BENCH
ALLAHABAD.
Dated: This the 31st day of March 2023
Original Application No. 237 of 2023
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Om Prakash VII, Member (J)
Hon'ble Dr. Sanjiv Kumar, Member (A)
1. Col Kshitij Sudhir Verma son of Sudhir Shobhala Verma, agaed
about 45 resident of Dehradun.
2. Lt. Col. Siddharth Shekhawat son of Late Dr. Sumer Singh
Shekhawat, aged about 40 years, resident of Banglore.
3. Col. S.K.Dwivedi son of Shiva Kant Dwivedi aged about 40 years,
resident of Dehradun.
4. Col. K.A. Grewal son of Kuldip Singh Grewal, aged about 42,
resident of Jammu.
5. Col. Tahir Mustafa son of Gulam Mustafa, aged about 44 years,
resident of Dehli.
6. Major Patil Keshav Vilas son of Patil Vilas Maruti, aged about 29
years, resident of Maharashtra and Goa Geospatial Data Centre,
Survey of India, Yerwada, Aalandhi Road Pune- 411006.
7. Major Ashish Dubey son of Anil Kumar Dubey, aged about 29
years, resident of E-1, Dewasom Lane, Keshavadasapuram,
Thiruvanathapuram - 695004.
8. Major Vikas Malik son of Shamsher Singh, aged about 32, resident
of House No. - 416/6, Vasant Vihar Rohtak, Haryana - 124001.
9. Major Ajay Singh Negi son of Mahipal, aged about 28 years,
resident of Rudrash Garden, Garden, GarwhalSabha, Jaspur
Khurd, Kashipur, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand.
10. Major Himanshu Anand son of Jagjit Singh Dogra, aged about 30
years, resident of E-301, Rail Vihar, Sector-4, Khasghar, Navi
Mumbai, Maharastra, Pin - 410210.
11. Major Shubham Singh son of Bhuvendra Singh, aged about 29
years, resident of Cams Delhi Cantt.
12. Major Lakshay Saini son of Satish K Saini, aged about 30 years,
resident of C-462, Brij Vihar, Ghaziabad, U.P. - 201011,
13. Major Anurag Dwivedi son of Mata Prasad Dwivedi, aged about 30
years, resident of C-462, Brij Vihar, Ghaziabad U.P.-201011.
14. Major Rohit Verma son of Lt. Col. M.L.Verma, aged about 29 years,
resident of Cams Delhi Cantt.
15. Major Vishal GIri son of Praveen Kumar, aged about 36 years,
resident of P89/1 Mall RaodGarhi Cantt Dehradun.
16. Lt. Col. Naresh Uniyal son of G.N.Uniyal, aged about 36 years,
resident of 3rd Floor, Central Secretariat Building, CG GDC, Survey
of India Atal Nagar Naya Raipur, Chhattishgarh.
17. Col. Sunil Fatehpur son of Shankar B Fatehpur, aged about 43
years, resident of Pune.
18. Brij Amardeep Singh son of Daljit Singh, resident of 600, Survey of
India, Sector - 32 A, Chandigarh - 160030.
19. Col. Arjun Sampath son of K Sampath Kumar, resident of 393, 9 th
cross 2nd Block near BBMP Zonal Office, Jayanagar, Bangalore
South, Karnataka.
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OA No. 237 of 2023
20. Maj. Daljinder Singh Romana son of Mukhtiar Singh, resident of J K
Road, New Minal Residency Huzur, GOvindpur Huzur, Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh.
21. Col. Kunal SHridhar Borkar son of Shridhar V Borkar, resident of D-
301, Arpita Chs, Rajaram Tawade Road, Datta Mandir, Dahisar,
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
22. Col. Rajat Sharma son of Ashwani Kumar Sharma, resident of
Kilokari opp. Maharani bagh Jungpura, Defence Colony South,
Dehli.
23. Maj. Akhil K son of Kolappa Pillai A, Akhilam Muthiyamkonam,
Tholicode, Yhiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
24. Maj Anupam Mishra son of Ram Narayan Mishra, resident of
Teonthar, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.
25. Maj. Jatinder Singh son of Hrbans Singh, resident of Street No.-3,
Adarsh Nagar Ropar, Pupnagar, Punjab.
26. Maj. Sourabh Dhir son Sunil Dhir, resident of House No - 1022,
Sector - 11, Panchkula, Haryana.
27. Col Vasudevan Raju son of P.N.Vasudevan, resident of Raj
Bhawan, P.V.North, Thazhava, Kollam, Kerala - 690523.
28. Lt. Col. Vikram Singh son of Bane Singh Shekhawat, resident of
144, K5c scheme, near lal mandir, Jhotwara, Rajasthan.
29. Maj. Aditya Vijay son of Dr. R.K.Vijay Vergi, resident of Cantt.
Dehli.
30. Maj. Chandra Prakash son of Ram Niwas, resident of near Office
ujwa Samas Pur Khalsa South West Dehli.
31. Col. Arindam Gupta son of Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta, resident of A-
301, G.K.S. Habitat Royal, Jawahanagar, Jj Nagar Colony, Andhra
Pradesh.
32. Col. Pawan Kumar Panday son of Vishnu Kumar Panday resident
of Ratnapur, Ramapur, Bhojpur, Bihar.
33. Brig. B.Sareen Chander son of B. Surender, resident of House No.
0 5-72, Miyapur, Janapriya, west city, Hyderabad.
34. Col. Ranjan Negi son of Lakshman Singh Negi, Resident of Silcher,
Assam.
35. Col. Arvind Jadli son of Mahesh Chandra Jadli, resident of Survey
of India, Dehrahdun.
36. Col. Rakesh Rana son of Mastan Singh, resident of Cantt. Dehli.
37. Col Satyendar Singh Rathore son of Vijay Singh Rathore resident
of ADG, Military Survey, Dehli Cantt.
38. Maj. Kunal Kapoor son of Late Balbinder Singh Kapoor, resident of
ADG, Military Survey, Dehli Cantt.
39. Maj. Ajesh P. son of Late N. Pankaja Akshan, resident of ADMC,
Bangalore, Karnataka.
40. Maj. Md. Nuruzzaman son of Abdul Maleque, resident of Pune
Maharashtra.
41. Maj Naveen Kumar Gautam son of Sri Narendra Pal, resident of
Roorkee, U.P.
42. Maj. Siddharth Rathi son of SUdhir Rathi, resident of Rajasthan
GDC, Jaipur.
43. Brig Arun K D son of Shri MSD Pillai, GSGS, Delhi.
. . .Applicant
By Adv : Shri Udai Chandani and Shri Vivek Mishra
VERSUS
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OA No. 237 of 2023
1. Union of India through through its Joint Secretary of Department of
Science and Technology, New Delhi.
2. Ministry of Department of Personal and Training through its
Secretary.
3. Department of Science and echnology, Government of India,
Technology Bhawan, New Mehrauli Road, New Dehli through its
Secretary.
4. Survey of India through its Surveyor General of India Hathibarkala
Estate, Dehradun - 248001.
. . .Respondents
By Adv: Shri Shashi Prakash Singh and Shri P.K. Rai
ORDER
By Hon'ble Dr. Sanjiv Kumar, Member (A) This OA, under Section 19 of the AT Act, 1985 is filed seeking relief to direct to grant status quo on the service condition of the Group A Defence Stream Officers of Survey of India to be maintained as per service rules, 1989, quash and set aside the impugned order dated 30.03.2023 issued by Joint Secretary to the Government of India which is against the statutory provision (service Rules, 1989) as well as order of this Tribunal dated 13.02.2023 and not being as per prescribed procedure of Cadre Review. The applicant also seeks interim order to stay the effect and operation of the impugned order dated 20.03.2023 issued by Joint Secretary to the Government of India, and any other order deemed fit by this Tribunal.
2. The case came up for hearing on interim relief on 28.03.2023. Shri Udai Chandani and Shri Vivek Mishra, learned counsels have appeared for the applicants and Shri Shashi Prakash Singh, Additional Solicitor General of India and Shri P.K. Rai, learned counsel have appeared on behalf of the respondents were present and heard on interim relief.
3. The case of the applicant is that the Army Officers corps of engineers were selected by the UPSC with three to six years of service and further inducted into Survey of India Group A Defence stream officers Page 3 of 8 OA No. 237 of 2023 on permanent secondment under rule 1959 / 1989. The new rule of 1989 was framed to remove disparity in pay, promotion and seniority between the Army and Civilian Officers after long deliberation and taking care of all grievances of Civilian Officers. Group A cadre of Survey of India was thus bifurcated into two separate streams namely Defence and Civil and allotted posts at each level for both the streams separately. For new entrance no inter-se-seniority was to be maintained and the officers were promoted in their respective streams. However, inter-alia seniority of existing officers were to be maintained in order to grant supernumerary promotions in both streams for any supersession due to bifurcation at the time of promulgation of rule 1989. Inter-alia other averments, the applicants state that vide the impugned order dated 20.03.2023, Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India has passed following orders:
"As part of the implementation of the policy decision of the Union Cabinet and in accordance with the provisions of para 2(d) of Annexure-II (title:
Conditions of Service for Defence Officers) of the 1989 Rules, which provides that, "An officer may be reverted permanently to military duty if his services are no longer required in the Survey of India owing to:- (i) reduction of establishment", the Competent Authority has decided to permanently revert the Defence Stream Officers of the Survey of India Group „A‟ Service, transferred from the Corps of Engineers officer to SoI on permanent secondment basis to Military Survey, Ministry of Defence, w.e.f. 31.03.2023 (A/N). Accordingly, the Defence Stream Officers listed in Annexure, stand permanently reverted to the Military Survey, Ministry of Defence with effect from 31.03.2023 (A/N). They will be deemed to be relieved from their present office to report to the Engineer in Chief‟s Branch, Integrated HQ of MoD (Army), Kashmir House, DHQ PO, New Delhi
- 110011"
4. At the outset the applicants claim that vide the impugned orders, reverting them to their parent cadre their seniority, grade pay and all other service conditions will be affected. They further claimed that the rule under which they are being sent back cannot be invoked to implement the new National Geospatial Policy 2022 as they are governed by Survey of India Group A service rule 1989, wherein, Annexure II (2) conditions for reversion in Military duty is given, which is following:- Page 4 of 8 OA No. 237 of 2023
"(2) Reversion to military duty - After confirmation an officer will have a lien on his appointment in the Survey of India which will however, be subject to the following conditions. In these conditions the expression "revert" implies an option on the part of the officer, the expression "be reverted" indicates that the officer has no option:
(a) if the officer has less than 20 years Commissioned service, he may revert permanently to military duty at his own request with sixmonths notice.
(b) If the officer has more than 20 years commissioned service he may revert permanently to military duty only with the approval of the Government.
(c) An officer, of the substantive rank of Col. Or above or a Lt. Col, who has completed his tenure of service as such, cannot revert permanently to military duty.
(d) An officer may be reverted permanently to military duty if his services are no longer required. In the Survey of India owing to:-
(i) reduction of establishment.
(ii) Unsatisfactory work or conduct on the part of the officer not involving his removal or dismissal from Government Service."
5. Wherein the 2 (a) (b) and (c) are at the volition of the officers and
(d) is condition for reversion by the department. Wherein it is clear that an officer may be reverted permanently to Military duty if his service is no longer required in the Survey of India owing to reduction of establishment or unsatisfactory work or conduct. The respondents have quoted reduction of establishment as reason for their reversion. Whereas, the applicants point out that many vacancies are presently there and they have been working for quite long time satisfactorily and they do both work of Civil as well as Defence mapping for which they are trained and have long experience, and if the case of the respondents is that there is requirement for restructuring of the cadre, it should be done and gone through proper rules prescribed for cadre restructuring as prescribed by the DOPT, Government of India, and without that formal process, merely by mentioning that new Geospatial Policy 2022, contained in para 5.2.2.7, where in it is mentioned as under:-
"5.2.2.7. The organizational structure of SoI would be aligned with the changed Geospatial data regime, with focus on facilitating and nurturing a vibrant domestic Geospatial services industry. SoI would be transformed into a fully civilian organization. Defence stream of recruitment in SoI would be discontinued and defence stream officers seconded to SOI would be permanently reverted to Military Survey, Ministry of Defence. Requirements of fast changing skill sets in SOI would be met, by domain experts sourced from the market."Page 5 of 8 OA No. 237 of 2023
6. The applicants point out that the DOPT OM dated 30.09.2022 where consolidated guidelines on cadre review of Central Service, Civil Services is mentioned, and where in detail the procedure of cadre review is given. They points out that as there is no such procedure gone through for their cadre review, just merely quoting the new policy, which is not still have been converted into any implementable instrument under the Group A rules of 1989, the applicants could not be summarily reverted back to their original cadre.
7. They challenged the said impugned order on various grounds of infirmities, which needs to be examined in detail and pray for granting interim stay of the said order as their OA will be infructuous if the respondents are not restrained from implementing the said orders and the applicants will be summarily reverted back consequently be affected in seniority, grade pay and other service conditions irreparably. Applicants further aver that the respondents are taking coercive, discriminatory and capricious action against the applicants, by summarily reverting them back to their parent department which will affect their service conditions, hence they pray to grant the interim prayer of stay and status quo till the disposal of the case.
8. The respondents vehemently argued and asserted that there is no coercive action being taken against the applicants and they are acting as per Annexure II of the Survey of India Group A Service Rules 1989, only they have acted as the said provision provides for officers whose services are not required in the Survey of India to be reverted back to their parent cadre i.e. Ministry of Defence. They emphatically say that Ministry of Defence was also consulted on the matter after due consultation the Page 6 of 8 OA No. 237 of 2023 decision was taken at the highest level to revert them back. They further quote that they have followed the order of this Tribunal, wherein it was ruled as under:-
"We observe that the respondents are not going to take any precipitous action of reversion against the applicants pursuant to the new Geospatial Policy. The rights defined in the existing rule (Survey of India Group „A‟ Service Rule, 1989) will be applied to the existing incumbent applicants. With the above observation this O.A. is disposed of with liberty to the applicants to file any other application in future if they are indeed aggrieved. The respondents are free to take further recourse to flesh out their policies into implementable instruments, rules etc., after due consultation and taking into account the aspirations and grievances of all the stakeholders including the applicants."
9. Respondents asserts that as the said order envisaged that the respondents are free to take further recourse to flesh out their policies into implementable instruments, rules etc., after due consultation and taking into account the aspirations and grievances of all the stakeholders including the applicants. They have issued the said order.
10. Applicants further argued that the action of the respondents are precipitous and coercive and is contemptuous as it is in contravention of with the order dated 13.02.2023 in OA 58 of 2023 wherein this Tribunal had observed that the respondents are not going to take any precipitous action of reversion against the applicants pursuant to the new Geospatial Policy and that the right defined in the existing rules of Survey of India, Group A service Rule 1989, will be applied to the existing applicants.
11. We have gone through the record and carefully considered the rival contentions. Both the parties are relying the same service rules to buttress their case. But from the very action of the respondents through their order dated 20.03.2023 whereby the applicants, the defence category officers are being sent back to their parent department en block, which may effects their rights in terms of seniority, grade pay and other Page 7 of 8 OA No. 237 of 2023 service conditions, hence the applicants make a cogent case, which required closer examination as to whether the actions are bonafide as well as it was as per law and procedure prescribed under the DOPT rules quoted supra, and , we are also convinced that if in the present case interim relief is not granted to the applicants then they will be put to irreparable loss as the respondents through their order will repatriate them effectively from their present position by 31.03.2023. Hence, we find sufficient ground to admit the OA and also find sufficient grounds to interfere with the said order and pass following interim order:
"The OA is admitted and the impugned order dated 20.03.2023 is stayed till the next date of hearing. The respondents shall maintain status quo, and restrain themselves from disturbing the applicants from their present position till then. The respondents are further directed to maintain status quo ante position and shall continue them in their respective positions as on the date of order i.e. 20.03.2023, till the next date of hearing. Further, respondents are given four week time for filing their counter affidavit and thereafter the applicants may take two weeks to file their rejoinder affidavit, if any. Post this case before Registrar for completion of pleadings by 29.05.2023".
(Dr. Sanjiv Kumar) (Justice Om Prakash VII)
Member (A) Member (J)
/Piyush/
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