Central Administrative Tribunal - Chandigarh
Amit Bahadur vs Employees State Insurance Corporation on 16 February, 2024
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CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
CHANDIGARH BENCH
O.A. No. 375/2021
Chandigarh, this the 16th day of February, 2024
HON'BLE MR. SURESH KUMAR BATRA, MEMBER (J)
HON'BLE MRS. RASHMI SAXENA SAHNI, MEMBER (A)
1. Amit Bahadur aged 35 years S/o Aas Bahadur, working as
Assistant, office of Employees State Insurance Corporation,
Regional Office, Madhya Marg, Sector 19A, Chandigarh, 160019
2. Mukesh Kumar aged 38 years son of Sh. Sita Ram Prasad, working
as Assistant, Employees State Insurance Corporation, Sub Regional
Office, SCF-22-23, Urban Estate Phase II, Jamalpur, Ludhiana,
Punjab 141010.
3. Raju Kumar aged 33 years S/o Sh. Sita Ram Prasad, Assistant,
Employees State Insurance Corporation, Sub Regional Office, SCF-
22-23, Urban Estate Phase II, Jamalpur, Ludhiana, Punjab 141010.
4. Rohit Khurana aged 33 years S/o Sh., Suraj Khurana, working as
Assistant office of Employees State Insurance Corporation,
Regional Office, Madhya Marg, Sector 19A, Chandigarh, 160019
5. Sanjeev Kumar aged 40 years S/o Sh. Ram Saran, working as
Assistant office of Employees State Insurance Corporation,
Regional Office, Madhya Marg, Sector 19A, Chandigarh, 160019
6. Sandeep Kumar aged 40 years S/o Sh. Suraj Mal, working as
Assistant office of Employees State Insurance Corporation,
Regional Office, Madhya Marg, 160019 Sector 19A, Chandigarh.
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7. Surinder Kumar Sharma aged 47 years S/o Sh. Madan Lal, working
As Assistant, Employees State Insurance Corporation, DCBO
Kharajpur, Rajpura, Punjab 140401.
...Applicants
(BY ADVOCATE: Sh. Anil Kumar Bhardwaj)
VERSUS
1. Employees State Insurance Corporation, Headquarters Office,
Panchdeep Bhawan, C.I.G. Marg, New Delhi-110002 through
Director General [[email protected]]
2. Regional Director (Administration), Regional office, Employees
State Insurance Corporation, Regional Office, Madhya Marg. Sector
19A, Chandigarh, 160019 [[email protected]]
...Respondents
(BY ADVOCATE: Sh. K.K. Thakur along with Sh. Jaskirat Singh and
Ms. Monika Kondal)
O R D E R(Oral)
Per: SURESH KUMAR BATRA, MEMBER (J):
1. The applicants have filed instant O.A under Section 19 of the Central Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 seeking following relief:
"(i) Quash letter / order dated 16.2.2021 (Annexure A-1) vide which final seniority list of Head Clerk/Assistants in the level 6 of 7th CPC as on 31.3.2016 for the 3 recruitment year 2015-16 has been issued ignoring the names of the applicants despite the fact that their colleagues of other Regions, who were appointed out of same selection process and against same vacancy year have been included for promotion to the post of Social Security Assistant, thereby violating Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.
(ii) Quash letter/ order dated 25.3.2021 (Annexure A-2) vide which the All India final Seniority Lists of Head Clerks / Assistants in level-6 of the 7th CPC as on 31.3.2017 and 31.3.2016 for the year 2016-17 has been issued for promotion to the higher post of Social Security Officer (SSO) ignoring the claim of the applicants for inclusion in the seniority list based on vacancy year 2015-16 as they being in Punjab Circle have been treated as recruited against recruitment year 2016-17 instead of having recruited against vacancy year 2015- 16 thereby snatching their right of consideration for promotion to the post of SSO for which DPC is likely to be held at any time now.
(iii) Issue direction to the respondents to include the name of the applicants in the seniority list, Annexure A-1, on the basis of vacancy year of 2015-16 instead of 2016-
17 as has been done in respect of Regions other than Punjab Region and then consider their cases also for 4 promotion to the higher post of SSO from due date with all the consequential benefits."
2. The brief facts of the case are that the applicants appeared in the LDCE examination for the Vacancy year 2015-16 for the post of Assistant and the result was declared vide Annexure A-3 dated 22.07.2016, wherein, list of the selected candidates was issued against the vacancy year 2015-2016. In the said list, name of the applicants were at S. No. 110, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116 and just below the name of applicants there were name of Ms. Amruta Subhash Patil, Mr. Sagar D. Joshi etc. who were from Maharashtra Circle and known to the applicants.
3. In the year 2017, a seniority list of Head Clerks/Assistants for the year 2016-17 was issued/circulated in the Regional Office as based on the vacancy year 2015-16. The applicants had approached the Regional Office regarding clarification about the list, where upon it was informed that the Headquarter prepares the list as per the recruitment year and in the Regional Office also list is prepared recruitment year wise. The names of applicants will be shown in the list for the recruitment year 2016-17 but not in the said list as per prescribed procedure. Thereafter, the list of "Recruitment year 2016-17"
containing the names of the applicant was circulated. (Annexure A-7)
4. It has been further submitted that the regional office sent the said list before the Headquarters and the applicants could not raise objections because this is how the list was being sent by the regional office to Headquarters in due course. Due to wrong labeling by the regional office the names of the applicants were put in 5 the seniority list for the recruitment year 2016-17 instead of 2015-16. When objections/error were called by circulating the list for the recruitment year 2015- 16 (Annexure A-1) on 14.12 2020, applicants could not raise objection as their names were to reflect in the list for the recruitment year 2016-17, as the regional office had sent their name with the same labeling.
5. The applicants found their names in the All India Seniority List for recruitment year 2016-17 (Annexure A-2) circulated in February, 2021 but the names of colleagues Amrita Subhash Patil and Sagar D. Joshi were not there. On inquiry, it was revealed by them that names of Amrita and Sagar D. reflects in the list for the recruitment year 2015- 16 as Sr. No. 390, 394 etc. Applicants immediately made representation dated 11.03.2021, 10.03.2021 (Annexure A-5) but no action was taken.
6. It has been submitted that on issuance of directions by this Hon'ble Court, the representations have been decided and the plea taken by the respondents is that the Headquarter has already finalized and circulated the Regional & All India Seniority List of Assistants for the year 2015-16 and the applicants failed to raised any objections on the draft seniority list at the relevant point of time. Learned counsel further submitted that similar issue of Goa Circle has been entertained by the Headquarters after finalization of the All India Seniority List. The colleagues of Goa circle had submitted their representations on 15.03.2021 (after finalization of All India Seniority List), the same has been entertained and the list has also been revised. 6
7. It is not so that, the Regional Office is not aware of mistake committed by them but the only reason is no officer would like to take the responsibility of the error of sending the Regional List with wrong labeling. The acceptance of the Regional Office reflects from a noting received by the applicants through RTI (Annexure A-8), wherein the Regional Office has accepted the error in para 4 (1 to 3).
8. Thus, the applicants have lost their seniority due to the wrong labeling on the regional list sent by the Regional Office to the Headquarter, without their being any fault of the applicants. Those Regional Offices, who had admitted their mistakes like the Goa Circle and requested the Headquarter to rectify the same, their mistakes have been rectified by the Headquarter by revising the list. The only difficulty is with Punjab Circle, which is aware of the fault, but not ready to accept before the Headquarter.
9. The respondents have filed their reply stating that the ESIC Headquarter Office, New Delhi held the LDCE exam for the Vacancy year 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 on 20.02.2016 for promotion to the post of Assistant. All the applicants appeared, and the result of this exam was declared on 22.07.2016. All the applicants were selected in this examination for the Vacancy year 2015-16 and they were placed in the seniority list for the recruitment year 2016-17.
10. The procedure followed to finalize the seniority is that all the regional offices are supposed to prepare the Seniority List in respect of the official up to Assistant Cadre ("C" Group) by incorporating all the officials promoted in their region through DPC and LDCE in 3:1 and thereafter draft seniority list is circulated among all the officials with 7 the request to check their seniority and other particulars mentioned in the seniority list. If they found any discrepancy/error, then they may submit their representation with in specified time. Thereafter final Regional seniority list is prepared after considering all the representations submitted by the officials and final regional seniority list is circulated after removing all the discrepancies and giving reply of their representation. The final regional seniority list is sent to Headquarter Office by all regions to club the seniority and prepare the consolidated seniority list.
11. The respondents further submitted that consolidated draft seniority list is prepared at Headquarter and the same is put up on public domain to be checked by the employees itself and if they find any discrepancy, they can represent against it within prescribed time laid down by the Headquarter. Thereafter, All India final Seniority list of that particular cadre is issued by the Headquarter after removing all the discrepancies with proper reply, if any, and after getting the approval of the Competent Authority.
12. The draft regional seniority list for 2015- 16 in respect of Assistant Cadre was issued/circulated on 09.08.2017 with the request to submit their representation till 17/08/2017 against discrepancy, if any, observed by them in respect of their placing and any other discrepancies but all the petitioner did not submit any representation against it with regard to their placing in the seniority list and the same was finalized on 02.01.2018. Thereafter Consolidated All India Draft Seniority list for 2015-2016 was prepared and issued on 15/01/2019 with the direction to forward the objections received from the 8 individual employee upto 6/02/2019 to Headquarters Office on or before 10/02/2019. Thereafter, consolidated All India Draft Seniority list for 2015-16 was finalized and uploaded on the Headquarters official website on 22/07/2019. But the applicants in this case have not submitted any representation against the aforesaid seniority list. The Regional Office of Maharashtra and Assam have furnished the revised final regional seniority list of Assistants for the period 2015- 2016 to Headquarter with the request to make necessary amendments in the All India Seniority list of Assistants for the period 2015-2016. Due to revised Seniority lists, the final All India Seniority list of Assistants for the period from 2015-2016 was re-opened and after making necessary amendments in the All India Seniority list of Assistants for the period from 2015-2016, the All India revised draft Seniority lists of Assistants for the period 2015-2016 was again issued inviting objections if any, from the individual till 24.12.2020 and to forward the same to Headquarter on or before 31.12.2020.
13. The applicants have not represented against it and ultimately it was finalized by Headquarters Office on 16.02.2021. The applicants have neither given any representation against the Draft Regional Seniority list issued by the ESIC Regional Office Chandigarh nor given any representation against the All India draft Seniority list and All India revised draft Seniority list of Head Clerks/Assistants issued by ESIC Headquarters Office. Consequently, the respondents finalized the Regional Seniority list of Assistant cadre and Headquarters Office, ESIC has finalized the All India Seniority list of Assistant Cadre after making necessary correction.
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14. The applicants have submitted their representations between 10.03.2021 to 15.03.2021, while the Seniority list for the year 2015- 2016 had already been finalized by Headquarters Office, ESIC on 16.02.2021 after giving ample opportunities to represent to all the individuals for error/discrepancy in the said Seniority list.
15. The applicants have filed rejoinder reiterating the facts mentioned in the O.A, to which respondents have also filed reply.
16. We have heard learned counsel for both the sides and gone through the material available on record. Respondents have admitted in reply to the rejoinder that in the case of Regional Office, Goa, names of officials, who were promoted in the year 2015-16 was omitted by the Regional Office, Goa. However, later on the Goa Regional Office has rectified the same and included the names of officials in the Regional Seniority List for the year 2015-16 and forwarded the same to the Headquarter Office with request to include the names of officials in the final All India Seniority List in Regional Office, Assistant Cadre for year 2015-16.
17. From the perusal of Annexure A-8 (note sheet dated 25.03.2021), it is evident that respondent No. 2 admitted that instead of sending the finalized list some other irrelevant data was sent to the Headquarter Office inadvertently, which has resulted in elimination of eligible officials of the region from the list under consideration at that time. It has also been observed that the officials have been deprived of their justified right to find place in an earlier finalized list i.e. for the year 2015-16. This error was occurred due to wrong labeling of the list. It was also proposed that this error needs to be apprised to the 10 Headquarter Office for want of corrective measures, otherwise, officials would be at great loss and in case of unheard, they would be constrained to seek legal remedies.
18. The respondent No. 1 vide order dated 25.03.2021 after consideration of objections raised from the regions, has amended All India Seniority List of Head Clerk/Assistants for the Recruitment Year 2016-17. Further, the competent authority has accorded the approval for correction in the All India final revised seniority list of Head Clerk/Assistants for the year 2015-16 vide corrigendum. Since, the identical grievance of the colleagues of the applicants from Goa Region has been attended and redressed by the respondents, therefore, the applicants herein cannot be denied the same relief saying that finalized Regional List cannot be reopened. The said contention of the respondents is discriminatory and cannot be accepted, when the respondent No. 2 has admitted their mistake. The revision of seniority list will not cause any prejudice to any person.
19. In the term of the aforesaid discussion, the respondents are directed to reconsider the representations of the applicants and finalized the seniority list of Head Clerks/Assistants for the year 2015-
16. O.A is disposed of in term of aforesaid.
(RASHMI SAXENA SAHNI) (SURESH KUMAR BATRA)
Member (A) Member (J)
ms*