Central Administrative Tribunal - Kolkata
Anupam Banerjee vs O F B on 8 April, 2026
1 o.a. 350.00989.2019
CENTRAL ADMINISTRAT0VE TRIBUNAL
KOLKATA BENCH, KOLKATA
No. O.A. 350/00989/2019 Date of order: 08.04.2026
Present : Hon'ble Mr. Suchitto Kumar Das, Administrative Member
Hon'ble Mr. Diwakar Singh, Judicial Member
1. ANUPAM BANERJEE, son of Late Nepal
Banerjee, aged about 42 years, working as Lower
Division Clerk in the office of Chairman-cum-
DGOF, Ordnance Factory Board, 10A, Shaheed
Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata- 700001 and
residing at 39/C, Abinash Chandra Banerjee Lane,
Kolkata-700010.
2. SRIRAM TIRKEY, son of Shri Lale Tirkey,
working as Lower Division Clerk in the office of
Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory Board,
10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata-
700001 and residing at Flat No. 867, KB Block,
Sector-III, Salt Lake, Kolkata- 700098.
3. SMT. URMI BANIK BANERJEE, wife of Shri Sudip
Banik, working as Lower Division Clerk in the
office of Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory
Board, 10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road,
Kolkata- 700001 and residing at 1/64, Bijoygarh,
Jadavpur, Kolkata- 700032.
4. SMT. SANGITA DAS, wife of Shri Raju Das,
working as Lower Division Clerk in the office of
Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory Board,
10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata-
700001 and residing at 62, Shitalatala Lane,
Kolkata-700011.
5. Ms. DEBAPRIYA DAS CHOWDHURY, daughter
of Late Subhash Chandra Das Chowdhury,
working as Lower Division Clerk in the office of
Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory Board,
10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DhanuRam
DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65=
1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone=
ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c1257419c6eb7e8dad5b6505515,
PostalCode=711112, S=West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER=
c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a973f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=
DhanuRam Hansda
Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document
Location:
Date: 2026.04.17 11:56:24+05'30'
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2 o.a. 350.00989.2019
700001 and residing at 6-A, Abhoy Mukherjee
Lane, Belghoria, Kolkata- 700056.
6. Ms. SAYANI MUKHERJEE, daughter of Shri
Goutam Mukherjee, working as Lower Division
Clerk in the office of Chairman-cum-DGOF,
Ordnance Factory Board, 10A, Shaheed Khudiram
Bose Road, Kolkata- 700001 and residing at
141/A, netaji Subhas Road, Uttarpara, District-
Hooghly, Pin-712258.
7. KUHALI MANDAL, son of Shri Kamalesh
Mandal, working as Lower Division Clerk in the
office of Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory
Board, 10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road,
Kolkata- 700001 and residing at 14/B, R. N.
Tagore Road, Nabapally, Thakurpukur,
Haridevpur, South 24-Parganas, Kolkata- 700063.
8. RANJIT KARMAKAR, son of Shri Netai Chandra
Karmakar, working as Lower Division Clerk in the
office of Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory
Board, 10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road,
Kolkata- 700001 and residing at Village Madhya
Jhorehat, P.O. Jhorehat, District-Howrah, Pin-
711302.
9. SHIB KUMAR NAZIR, son of Late Amal Kumar
Nazir, working as Lower Division Clerk in the
office of Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance Factory
Board, 10A, Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road,
Kolkata- 700001 and residing at 31, Hafiz
Mohammad Ishaque Road, Haridevpur, Kolkata-
700082.
...... Applicants.
- VERSUS-
1. UNION OF INDIA service through the
Secretary, Ministry of Defence (Defence and
Production), Government of India, South Block,
New Delhi-110001.
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DhanuRam
DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65=
1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone=
ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c1257419c6eb7e8dad5b6505515,
PostalCode=711112, S=West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER=
c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a973f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=
DhanuRam Hansda
Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document
Location:
Date: 2026.04.17 11:56:24+05'30'
Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2025.1.0
3 o.a. 350.00989.2019
2. ORDNANCE FACTORY BOARD, service through
Chairman-cum-DGOF, having his office at 10A,
Shaheed Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata- 700001
3. THE CHAIRMAN-CUM-DGOF, Ordnance
Factory Board, having his office at 10A, Shaheed
Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata- 700001.
4. THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL
(HEADQUARTERS), Ordnance Factory Board,
having his office at 10A, Shaheed Khudiram
Bose Road, Kolkata-700001.
5. THE STAFF OFFICER /HEADQUARTERS, in the
office of Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance
Factory Board, having his office at 10A, Shaheed
Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata-700001.
6. SHRI SUBHANKAR BANERJEE, working to the
post of Lower Division Clerk in the office of
Ordnance Factory Board, Kolkata service
through the Chairman-cum-DGOF, Ordnance
Factory Board, having his office at 10A, Shaheed
Khudiram Bose Road, Kolkata- 700001.
....... Respondents.
For the Applicant : Mr. P.C. Das, Counsel
Ms. T. Maity, Counsel
For the Respondents : Mr. A.K. Chattopadhyay, Counsel
O R D E R (Oral)
Per: Mr. Suchitto Kumar Das, Administrative Member:
The applicant has approached this Tribunal under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 praying for the following relief(s):
"a) Leave may be granted to the applicants to file this application jointly under Rule 4(5)(b) of the Central Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1987 as the applicants have a common grievance and they are seriously aggrieved against the impugned Circular No. 53 dated 4th July, 2019 along with impugned OFB Circular No. 35 dated 4th June, 2018 being Annexure A-6 and A-7 of this original application; Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DhanuRam DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c1257419c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S=West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a973f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN= DhanuRam Hansda Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
Date: 2026.04.17 11:56:24+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2025.1.0 4 o.a. 350.00989.2019
b) To quash and/or set aside the impugned Circular No. 53 dated 4th July, 2019 along with impugned OFB Circular No. 35 dated 4th June, 2018 being Annexure A-6 and A-7 of this original application by which the respondent authority are going to conduct the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (2018) of LDC for the post of Upper Division Clerk by not considering the Departmental Promotion Committee's meeting to the post of Upper Division Clerk in respect of the present applicants those who are eligible and those who are fulfilled all the criteria as per the Statutory Recruitment Rules being Circular No., 10 dated 16.01.2018;
c) To declare that without conducting the review DPC or DPC in the year 2018 for promotion to the post of Upper Division Clerk in respect of the present applicants and by not placing their case before the appropriate Departmental Promotion Committee for considering their promotion to the post of Upper Division Clerk, issuance of the impugned Circular No. 53 dated 4th July, 2019 along with impugned OFB Circular No. 35 dated 4th June, 2018 being Annexure A-6 and A-7 of this original application by the respondent authority is otherwise bad in law and illegal and may be liable to be quashed and/or set aside in the eye of law.
d) To pass an appropriate order directing upon the respondent authority to conduct the DPC for filling up the vacancies to the post of Upper Division Clerk against a large number of vacancies of 80% more than 168 in the office of Ordnance Factory Board, Kolkata and to consider the case of the present applicants along with other eligible candidates in terms of the seniority list published as on 01.01.2018 and subsequent revised seniority list as on 01.01.2019 and if the applicants are found suitable in the DPC for promotion to the post of Upper Division Clerk in that event, their promotion should be given effect with effect from 2018 along with all consequential benefits;
e) To pass an appropriate order directing upon the respondent authority that without holding the Departmental Promotion Committee's meeting in respect of the applicants along with other eligible candidates belonged to 80% quota, no departmental selection of 20% quota should be made by demoralizing the quota of 80% of the post of UDC:"
2. The applicants were LDCs, who have been promoted as UDCs in the year 2021 vide order dated 4th March, 2021 w.e.f. 23rd February, 2021. It is applicants' case that their juniors were promoted in the year 2018. Therefore, their promotion should be antedated to 2018.
3. Ld. Counsel for the applicant draws attention to the Recruitment Rules called the Ordnance Factory Board Headquarters Clerical Service (Group 'C' posts) Recruitment Rules, 2017. As per column No. 11 of the RR for UDC, Note 1 below Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda DhanuRam DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c1257419c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S=West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a973f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN= DhanuRam Hansda Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
Date: 2026.04.17 11:56:24+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2025.1.0 5 o.a. 350.00989.2019 sub-Para 2 states that where juniors who have completed their qualifying or eligibility service are being considered for promotion, their seniors would also be considered, provided they are not short of the requisite qualifying or eligibility service by more than half of such qualifying or eligibility service or two years, whichever is less and have successfully completed their probation period for promotion to the next higher grade along with their juniors who have already completed such qualifying or eligibility service.
4. Ld. Counsel for the respondents submits that the applicants were not eligible to appear for the LDCE in the year, 2017 as they had not completed the required residency period at that time.
5. In our opinion, the respondents should have considered the provision contained in the said Note 1 as quoted above for considering the eligibility of the applicants in 2017.
6. We, therefore, deem it fit to direct the respondents to consider the eligibility of the applicants for promotion to the post of UDC taking into account the provisions contained in Note 1 with follow up action including antedating their promotion, if found eligible, within a period of 03 (Three) months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.
7. The O.A. is disposed of accordingly. No order as to costs.
(Diwakar Singh) (Suchitto Kumar Das)
Judicial Member Administrative Member
Drh
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DhanuRam
DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65=
1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone=
ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c1257419c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S=West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a973f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN= DhanuRam Hansda Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
Date: 2026.04.17 11:56:24+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2025.1.0