Central Administrative Tribunal - Delhi
Ravi Kumar vs Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghthan on 4 July, 2024
1
Item No. 12
Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018
Central Administrative Tribunal
Principal Bench, New Delhi
OA No. 2873/2018
MA No. 3221/2018
This the 04th day of July, 2024
Hon'ble Mr. R.N. Singh, Member (J)
Hon'ble Mr. Sanjeeva Kumar, Member (A)
1. Ravi Kumar aged about 38 years
S/o Shri Hemraj Baitha
R/o RZ-17, 2nd Floor
Indra Park Extension, Uttamnagar
New Delhi-110059
2. Anjlina Lugum aged about 39 years
W/o Mr. Niraj Badding
R/o RZ-39, Gali No. 3A
Durga Vihar, Phase 1, Najafgarh
New Delhi-110043
3. Deepa Upadhyay aged about 38 years
W/o Mr. Dinesh Pratap Upadhyay
R/o Pocket 11/B, Sector-23
Rohini, New Delhi-110085
4. Sujeet Kumar aged about 39 years
S/o Shri Hari Narayan Jha
R/o Village Araji Nainha
P.O. Nainha P.S: Hajipur
District: Vaishali, Bihar-844124 ... Applicants
(By ADVOCATE: Sh. Ranjan Kumar with Sh. Dhruv Sisodia)
VERSUS
1. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (HQ)
Through Commissioner
18, Institutional Area
Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg
New Delhi-110016
2. Ministry of HRD Department of Education
Govt. of India
Through Secretary/Chairman
Shashtri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001
... Respondents
(By ADVOCATE: Sh. Anil Nag)
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Item No. 12
Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018
O R D E R (ORAL)
Hon'ble Mr. R.N. Singh, Member (J) Applicants, four in numbers, have approached this Tribunal by way of the present Original Application (OA) filed under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, praying for the following reliefs:
"(a) Issue appropriate direction(s)/order(s) to the Respondents to made changes in the Recruitment Rules of HM (Head Master/Mistress), PGT (Post Graduate Teacher) & VP (Vice Principal) so as to provide promotional avenues for HM; and/or
(b) Set-aside the Comments of KVS/Decision as taken/mentioned in Para A (2)(e) of JCM held on 20.02.2017 (the minutes being circulated vide covering letter dated 09.05.2017 bearing No. F. 11083-1/2016/KVS (HQ) New Delhi) regarding reasoning given for denial of promotional avenues of HM as being arbitrary and suffering from non-
application of mind besides the same also being violative of law and ultra-vires Constitution of India; and/or
(c) To award the Cost of litigation; and/or
(d) To pass such other and further orders, as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case."
2. At the outset, learned counsel for the applicants submits that in the facts and circumstances, under instructions, he does not press relief sought vide paragraph 8 (b). Thus, the 3 Item No. 12 Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018 relief sought vide paragraph 8 (b) of the present OA stands dismissed as not pressed.
3. The applicants are stated to have initially joined the services of the respondents as Primary Teacher (PRT) and subsequently in view of their eligibility they have been considered and promoted by the competent authority to the post of Head Master/Head Mistress. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that there is acute stagnation inasmuch as for the post of Head Master/Head Mistress, there is no promotional avenue. He adds that for creating promotional avenues for the post of Head Master/Head Mistress, the Association of the applicants had approached the respondents on various occasions through various representations including representations exhibited as Annexure A/5 - Annexure A/8, Annexure A/10 and lastly, the applicant no. 1 has also preferred a representation dated 11.05.2018 (Annexure A/12). He further submits that the respondents were also conscious of necessity to consider and create promotional avenues to the post of Head Master/Head Mistress as apparent from minutes of the meeting of JCM of KVS held on 20.02.2017 regarding which comments of 4 Item No. 12 Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018 concerned were invited vide respondents communication dated 09.05.2017 (Annexure A/1) and further minutes of the meeting of the JCM of KVS held on 22.08.2017 for which comments of the concerned were invited by the respondents' communication dated 21.12.2017 (Annexure A/2). Learned counsel submits that though in first meeting reference agenda point was regarding "Promotion Avenue of Head Master/Head Mistress (HM)" and the Chairperson of the respondents-KVS had directed KVS to re-examine the matter, however no action towards creating promotional avenue was taken by the respondents. He further submits that similarly in the aforesaid second meeting i.e. in August 2017, the agenda point at 2(e) was for "Promotion Avenue of Head Master/Head Mistress (HM)", however, the same was discussed and dropped and despite lapse of various years thereafter, till date no step for creating any promotional avenue to the post of Head Master/Head Mistress has been taken by the respondents.
4. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that in view of the law settled on the subject, promotion is a normal incidence of service and it is mandated upon the employer, 5 Item No. 12 Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018 the respondents herein, to consider and take appropriate action for creation of promotional avenue in the deserving cases. In support of his arguments, he has placed reliance on various judgments. However, he has referred to the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Dr. Ms. O.Z. Hussain vs. Union of India & Ors. reported in AIR 1990 SC 311.
5. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondents Sh. Anil Nag, by referring to the assertions made by the respondents in their counter reply submits that the present OA is not maintainable inasmuch as the relief sought vide the present OA is not tenable as creation of promotional avenue, change of Recruitment Rules etc. falls exclusively under the domain of the respondents as the same relates to policy decision. He submits that in the facts and circumstances, indulgence of this Tribunal is not warranted.
6. We have considered the submissions made by the learned counsels for the parties and with their assistance we have also perused the pleadings available on record. 6 Item No. 12 Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018
7. The factual matrix is not in dispute. We find that against the Special Agenda (Annexure A/1) for minutes of the JCM meeting held on 20.02.2017, against the agenda point 2(e), i.e. on promotion avenue of Head Master/ Head Mistress, the Chairperson of the respondent-KVS has directed KVS to re- examine the matter. However, no order pursuant to such re- examination has been passed and/or brought on record. The reason for discussing the agenda point but dropping it is given in the "ATR on the minutes of the previous meeting held on 20.02.2017" , against the agenda point 2(e) (Annexure A-2) as "The Recruitment Rules of Teaching posts is under consideration of the Committee constituted to review the recruitment rules. After review of teaching posts, the recruitment rules of Misc. category posts including HM and PRT (Music) will be reviewed. So far 10 meetings have been conducted and the last meeting held on 14.08.2017." Besides, it also stands admitted that the applicants' representation particularly the one dated 11.05.2018 (Annexure A/12) has not been considered and disposed of by the respondents till date.
7Item No. 12 Court-2 OA No. 2873/2018
8. In light of the aforesaid, the present OA is disposed of with direction to the competent authority amongst the respondents to consider the applicants' claim for grant of promotional avenue to the post of Head Master/Head Mistress keeping in view the law on the subject and representations made by the applicants, a few referred to hereinabove and also keeping in view the comments of the KVS in the aforesaid two JCM meetings against the appropriate agenda item by passing an appropriate order as expeditiously as possible and preferably within a period of twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
9. The OA stands disposed of in terms of the aforesaid directions. Associated Miscellaneous Applications also stand disposed of.
10. There shall be no order as to costs.
(Sanjeeva Kumar) (R.N. Singh)
Member (A) Member (J)
/NS/