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Showing contexts for: Traffic apprentice in Baby George And Ors. vs Union Of India (Uoi) And Ors. on 12 July, 2002Matching Fragments
9. In this context, it is considered pertinent to refer to R-3 (a) decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ernakulam Bench in O.A. Nos. 875/91 and 966/91 dated 19.8.93. The applicants in those O.As., had been selected for the post of Assistant Superintendent of Telegraph Traffic (ASTT for short). They questioned the validity of ranking them as per the results of the training, instead of the relative merit position in the competitive examination held in January, 1990. The Tribunal considered the provisions of Para 32-E of P and T Manual, Vol. IV which enjoined that subject to any special rules prescribed for any particular service, the seniority of an official in the cadre to which he belongs should be fixed according to the date of their permanent appointment to that cadre. Thus, the Competent Authority can prescribe special rules for the purpose of determination of seniority. In respect of the ASTTs, the Tribunal noted in the cited case that in view of the powers conferred on the Competent Authority with regard to enforcing special rules for determination of seniority, the seniority rule prescribed in respect of ASTTs was unassailable. It was also accepted that the executive orders prescribed the manner in which the seniority was to be fixed in respect of ASTTs and had the same force as the Manual. The question before this bench of the Tribunal in the cited case was also, as mentioned earlier, the validity of the procedure of fixing the seniority on the basis of marks obtained in the training. On the facts and circumstances of the case, this Tribunal held that the rule of giving rank on the basis of the marks obtained in the training was in vogue in Telephone Engineering and Traffic Apprentice right from 1963 onwards. The Tribunal also took note of the fact that this method of assigning seniority confirmed even after the formation of the ASTTs cadre in 1970 and that therefore, the method of assigning seniority on the basis of training was not something new. Accordingly, the Tribunal held as follows: