Sealed cover procedure applies only when prescribed disciplinary or criminal contingencies exist on the DPC consideration date.

Sealed cover procedure may be used only when, on the date the Departmental Promotion Committee considers an employee's case, one of the prescribed contingencies actually exists: suspension, issuance of a charge-sheet with pending disciplinary proceedings, or pending criminal prosecution. A mere prior decision to initiate disciplinary action is insufficient if no charge-sheet has been served and no proceedings are pending on that date. The relevant office memorandum did not permit retrospective justification of an improper sealed cover resort. The employee's promotion case therefore had to be considered on the relevant date, and any consequent promotion and benefits would follow if found fit.

---

---

Issues: Whether the sealed cover procedure could be applied when, on the date of consideration by the Departmental Promotion Committee, the employee was neither under suspension nor served with a charge-sheet nor facing pending criminal prosecution.

Analysis: The applicable office memorandum permitted sealed cover only in three situations: suspension, issuance of charge-sheet with pending disciplinary proceedings, or pending criminal prosecution. The relevant date for testing eligibility was the date of consideration by the Departmental Promotion Committee. A mere prior decision to initiate disciplinary action, without issuance of a charge-sheet and pending disciplinary proceedings on that date, was insufficient. Paragraph 7 of the memorandum did not justify an initially wrongful resort to sealed cover. The cited Supreme Court authorities supported the view that sealed cover cannot be used before the prescribed conditions exist.

Conclusion: The sealed cover procedure was wrongly adopted and could not be sustained; the petitioner was entitled to have his case considered for promotion on the relevant date and, if found fit, to promotion with consequential benefits.

Ratio Decidendi: Sealed cover procedure can be invoked only when, on the date of DPC consideration, one of the prescribed contingencies actually exists, and a mere decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings does not satisfy that requirement.

---