TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1999 (2) TMI 142
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....bsequent events, various parties have filed the writ petitions and I.As. 2.For the purpose of appreciating the disputes in these matters, it is necessary to set out the following facts : 3.The feeder categories for promotion to the posts in Group A services constituting the Indian Customs and Central Excise (Group A) Service are : (a)Superintendents of Central Excise, Group B (which consists of all promotees from lower cadres); (b)Superintendents of Customs (P) Group B (again all promotees from lower cadres); and (c)(i)Customs Appraisers Group B (consisting of officers directly recruited through UPSC;   (ii)Promotees from the feeder-cadres of Customs Examiners in ratio of 50:50). 4. During the pendency of the earlier writ petition, W.P. No. 306 of 1988, the Government of India came forward with certain proposals dated 8-6-1989 to resolve the long standing grievances of various groups of officers and to shorten litigation. This Court heard all the parties and their respective views on these proposals and accepted them. So far as the inter se dispute between the two sub-categories in the third feeder category (c) was concerned - namely promotee and direct recru....
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....ions had not come from the feeder category of Superintendents, Central Excise Group B, they had filed W.P. No. 651 of 1997 questioning these ad hoc promotions. They also raised questions regarding interpretation of the Government's decision dated 8-6-1989 and the subsequent amendment of the Rules in 1998. I. A. No. 4 was filed by the Direct Recruit Customs Appraisers. I. A. No. 6 was filed by the Customs Superintendents (P). The Writ Petitioner filed Contempt Petition No. 513 of 1997 and this Court ordered on 6-4-1998 the same to be registered as an I. A. IA 8 goes along with W.P. 651 of 1997. We shall deal with these matters one after the other. Writ Petition No. 651 of 1997 6.The petitioners in W.P. No. 651 of 1997 represented by learned senior Counsel Smt. Shyamala Pappu, are the members of the All India Federation of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers Association who are Superintendents of Central Excise in Group B, representing the first of the three feeder groups. They contend that the true basis of the proposal of the Union of India dated 8-6-1989 as reflected by para 4 and para 6.1 thereof is that at all times the ratio of 6:1:2 from the three feeder categories of....
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....question primarily depends upon the interpretation of the various paragraphs of the proposals dated 8-6-1989, it becomes necessary to set out the same once again : "16. The relevant portions of the proposal are set out below : 2.2.The seniority list of each of the above three feeder cadres is local and is maintained by each collectorate/Custom House-wise. The all-India lists of the first two feeder cadres are prepared on the basis of continuous length of regular service in the grade, subject to maintenance of inter se seniority of each local cadre. The inter se ranking in the 3rd feeder cadre (that is, Customs Appraisers) was as per the `General Principles of determining seniority of various categories of persons employed in Central Service' (generally known as quota-rota principles) stipulated in the Ministry of Home Affairs OM No. 9/11/55-RPS, dated 22-12-1959 (which were modified by the Department of Personnel and Training OM No. 35014/2/80-Estt. (D), dated 7-9-1986), prior to the framing of the Indian Customs and Central Excise Service Group `A' Rules, 1987. In these Rules of 1987, it has been provided vide sub-rule (2) of Rule 18 that - (a) The vacancies to be fil....
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....cannot be divided into fractions, the figures have been rounded to 67:33 so as to give the workable ratio of 2:1. 5.1 The proposal is that the promotee quota vacancies in the Group `A' grade of Senior Superintendent/Assistant Collector may be filled from Central Excise and Customs Group `B' Officers in the ratio of 2:1, the number of vacancies falling to the share of Customs Group `B' Officers being further apportioned between the two feeder cadres of customs - namely, Customs Appraisers and Customs (Preventive) Superintendents in the ratio of their respective sanctioned strength (which, rounded off to workable ratio, comes to 2:1). 5.2 The need to further sub-divide the number of vacancies in the share of the Customs Group `B' Officers between the Customs Appraiser and Customs (P) Superintendents arises because : (a) the two feeder cadres of Customs Appraisers and Customs (P) Superintendents are different and separate, (b) their seniority lists are separate, (c) whereas recruitment to Customs (P) Superintendent's Grade is 100% by promotion, in the case of Customs Appraisers, it is 50% by direct recruitment and 50% by promotion, and (d) in terms of the General Principle....
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....sideration lists of Superintendents of Central Excise on the one hand, and Appraisers (both direct recruits and promotees) and Preventive Superintendents of Central Excise and Superintendents of Customs on the other hand, would be drawn up first on all-India basis. While Group `B' Officers of the two feeder cadres-namely, Superintendents of Central Excise and Superintendents of Customs (P) - may be placed in their respective consideration lists on the basis of their cotinuous length of service in Group `B', the Group `B' Officers of the feeder cadre of Appraisers may be placed in their list on the basis of the principles of quota-rota as in the General Principles laid down from time to time in the instructions of MHA/DOP&T applicable to all the Services under the Union of India, circulated on 22-12-1959 and 7-2-1986." 9.It will be noticed from para 4 of the above proposals of the Government of India dated 8-6-1989 that as between the Excise Department Officers and the Customs Department Officers, the promotions from Group B to Group A are to be in the ratio of 2 : 1 or 6 : 3, that is to say, 6 will go to promotees from Central Excise Superintendents Group B, thereafter, out of the....
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....ded in the said para 4 that in the promoted category of Group A officers, there should always be 6 promotees from Excise Superintendents, Group B for every 9 posts in Group A. 12. Learned Counsel for the petitioners relied also upon para 6.1. There is no doubt a reference in para 6.1 to the frequent retirements of those Group A officers who are promoted from the category of Excise Superintendents Group B but that fact, in our opinion, has been referred there for the limited purpose of giving precedence to the Excise Superintendents Group B for promotion to the first 6 vacancies in Group A, in every cycle of 9 vacancies. It is nowhere stated in para 6.1 that because of such retirement of Excise Superintendents Group B on promotion to Group A, every such vacancy is to be filled only by promotion of another officer from Central Excise Superintendents Group B. 13.The respondents are therefore right in relying on para 6.3. That para works out an example. It says that as and when vacancies arise in Group A give first 6 vacancies to 6 from Excise Superintendents Group B, then the next vacancy to Customs Superintendent (P) and then the further two vacancies to the Customs Appraisers....
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....levant because retirement from service may not follow the quota rule." The learned Judge further pointed out : "Promotees who come to the service at an advanced age may retire early and direct recruits who enter the service at a comparatively young age may continue for a long time. If, therefore, in a given year larger number of promotees retire and every time the vacancy is filled in by referring to the source from which the retiring person was recruited, it would substantially disturb the quota rule itself. Therefore, while making recruitment quota rule is required to be strictly adhered to." 15. On the facts of that case, it was pointed out that the quota there for recruitment was 4 : 1 between promotees and direct recruits and that therefore, "whenever vacancies occur in the service, the appointing authority has to go on recruiting according to quota. In other words, whenever vacancies occur, first recruit four promotees irrespective of the factors or circumstances causing the vacancies and as soon as four promotees are recruited bring in a direct recruit". 16. A like situation arose in State of Punjab & Others v. Dr. R.N. Bhatnagar & Another - 1998 (6) Scale 642.....
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....er 6 out of 9 in the promoted post. But, in our view, that is not the way of looking at the problem in a case of ordinary quota as distinct from a scheme of reservation. The procedure indicated in the Government of India's proposals dated 8-6-1989 in para 6.3 appears to us to be the correct one. We have already referred to it. It says that if vacancies arise in the Group A posts (towards the 50% quota of promotees as distinct from 50% quota for direct recruits to Group A) they are to be filled up from among the three feeder categories, the first six vacancies by Superintendents Central Excise in Group B, the seventh vacancy Customs (P) Superintendents and the eighth and ninth the Customs Appraiser group. That completes one cycle. The further vacancies as and when they arise in Group A are to be filled again by following the same procedure. 20. There was a grievance raised by the writ petitioners that pending consideration of names by the UPSC for promotion to Group A, ad hoc promotions have been made to Group A and members from the first feeder category, namely, Superintendents of Excise Group B were not promoted. This was particularly so after the earlier judgment. In other ....