Bombay High Court
Kumar Bhagwan Khaire vs Union Of India Thr. Secretary And Ors on 21 May, 2021
Equivalent citations: AIRONLINE 2021 BOM 1448
Bench: S.J. Kathawalla, Surendra P. Tavade
11_wpst_10290_of_2021__24.05__B.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (ST) NO.10290 OF 2021
Kumar Bhagwan Khaire ... Petitioner
versus
Union of India and Ors. ... Respondents
Mr. Shriram S. Kulkarni with Mr. Sachin Chavan, Mr. Eeshan D. Khaire i/by Mr.
Pranjal M. Khatavkar, for Petitioner.
Mr. Rui Rodrigues with Mr. A.A.Garge, for Union of India.
Mr. Vinod Joshi with Ms. Lata Patne, for Respondent No.2.
Mr. S.H.Kankal, AGP, for State.
Mr. Kumar Vaibhav Gaur, Joint Secretary (AIS-UPSC) present.
CORAM: S.J. KATHAWALLA &
SURENDRA P. TAVADE, JJ.
(VACATION COURT THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCING) DATE: 21st MAY, 2021 P.C.:
1. By the above Writ Petition, the Petitioner is seeking directions against Respondent Nos.1 and 2 to take a decision on the proposal submitted by the State Government vide its Letter dated 22nd February, 2021 for promoting State Civil Service Officers to the IAS of the Maharashtra Cadre for 11 vacancies before the Petitioner attains superannuation age on 31st May, 2021.
2. The Learned Advocate for the Petitioner submitted that the superannuation age prescribed for the State Civil Services of Maharashtra State is 58 years, whereas the superannuation age for IAS Officers of Maharashtra Cadre is 60 years. The SSP 1/5 ::: Uploaded on - 24/05/2021 ::: Downloaded on - 12/09/2021 17:05:08 ::: 11_wpst_10290_of_2021__24.05__B.doc proposal for promotion and appointment is pending since 2019 with the UPSC and therefore, the decision needs to be taken before the Petitioner attains superannuation age, otherwise the Petitioner will lose the chance of working as an IAS Officer after putting so many years in the State Civil Service Cadre. It is further submitted that directions were given by this Court in respect of the same list in Writ Petition (St) No.99760 of 2020 filed by another candidate namely Mr. S.D.Jadhav, who is also a part of the same select list, whereby the UPSC was directed to hold a meeting and finalize the same by January, 2021. However, the said meeting is not held till date.
3. Today Mr. Gaur, Joint Secretary, AIS-UPSC is present before this Court along with his Advocate. He has informed the Court that a meeting could not be held in January in view of certain developments and though a meeting was scheduled to be held in February, the same could not be held due to the Pandemic. In response to our query as to why the meeting could not be held virtually, he has listed before us several difficulties including the difficulty of maintaining confidentiality at such a meeting.
However, he has stated that if the UPSC finds that the Petitioner meets with all the necessary requirements, the UPSC will certainly recommend the name of the Petitioner for promoting him to the IAS of the Maharashtra Cadre even if he attains the superannuation age / retires on 31st May, 2021.
4. The Learned Advocate for the Petitioner has drawn our attention to an Order dated 19th May, 2020 passed by the Delhi High Court in W.P. 3173 of 2020 SSP 2/5 ::: Uploaded on - 24/05/2021 ::: Downloaded on - 12/09/2021 17:05:08 ::: 11_wpst_10290_of_2021__24.05__B.doc involving a similar issue, where the Delhi High Court has recorded the submission of the UPSC stating that, "the UPSC shall not be guided by the fact that he (the Petitioner) would superannuate on 31st May, 2020 and the recommendations of the UPSC would be based on the merit evaluation of all the eligible candidates. Thereafter it would be for the Central Government to make appointments to the IAS of the recommendees." (emphasis supplied)
5. It appears that the UPSC had in the said Writ Petition before the Delhi High Court, interalia pointed out its difficulties, including the difficulty in maintaining confidentiality in holding meetings through video conferencing. This has been aptly dealt with by the Delhi High Court in paragraph No.14 of its Order, which is reproduced hereunder :
14. Considering the aforesaid aspects, we are firstly, of the view that the UPSC should seriously consider holding the Selection Committee Meetings through video conferencing. In today's day and age, it is possible to hold such meetings while maintaining confidentiality.
Looking to the present times, the UPSC should seriously consider adapting to new technology since it is not even known up to when the Covid-19 pandemic would continue or the lockdown itself would continue. The functioning of the UPSC - which performs very crucial functions of making selections for Government Services, cannot be brought to a knot, and it should continue to carry out its constitutional mandate by adapting to the changing times and new technology. The biological clock is ticking away even during the lockdown and the rights SSP 3/5 ::: Uploaded on - 24/05/2021 ::: Downloaded on - 12/09/2021 17:05:08 ::: 11_wpst_10290_of_2021__24.05__B.doc of the candidates/aspirants - who have offered their candidature for selection, would be irreparably prejudiced if the UPSC were not to perform its duties by resort to innovative methods during the pandemic."
6. The Delhi High Court thereafter, accepted the aforesaid statement made by the Advocate for the UPSC reproduced in paragraph 4 above and disposed off the Petition by expressing hope that the UPSC would hold a Selection Committee Meeting within three months.
7. We are in respectful agreement with the aforestated view expressed by the Delhi High Court, recommending UPSC meetings to be conducted through video conferencing and we see no need to further elaborate on the same. We accept the statement made by Mr. Gaur, that in the event the Petitioner meets with all the requirements, his name shall be recommended to the Central Government for being appointed to the IAS, irrespective of the fact that he has already reached the age of superannuation on 31st May, 2021. The statement is accepted as an undertaking given to this Court. We join the Delhi High Court in expressing hope that the UPSC would hold a Selection Committee meeting either face to face, or through video conferencing, at the earliest and not later than three months. SSP 4/5 ::: Uploaded on - 24/05/2021 ::: Downloaded on - 12/09/2021 17:05:08 :::
11_wpst_10290_of_2021__24.05__B.doc
8. The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of with a clarification that this Order is passed without going into the issue of maintainability of the Writ Petition and the same is kept open for being decided in an appropriate matter.
( SURENDRA P. TAVADE, J. ) ( S.J.KATHAWALLA, J. ) SSP 5/5 ::: Uploaded on - 24/05/2021 ::: Downloaded on - 12/09/2021 17:05:08 :::