CAT: No direct recruitment for posts reserved for promotees

NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the Delhi Government to stick to the quota for promotees to a senior post in the Department of Social Welfare, restraining it from filling all the positions with direct recruits.
 
A bench consisting of Chairman Justice V K Bali and Vice-Chairman L K Joshi, taking into the consideration the department's plea that rules will have to be amended to comply with the order, directed it to make ad hoc promotions to the post within a period of two months.
 
Holding the plea of the department about amendment of recruitment rules as wholly unfair, the Bench said that the petitioners had been waiting for promotions to the post of Child Development Project Officer for the more than 20-25 years.
 
"Assuming that such a technical objection is permissible under law, even though not justifiable under the facts and circumstances of the case, the Respondents (department) could well make ad hoc promotions at least to the extent reserved for the quota of promotees," the Tribunal held.
 
The petitioners including Arun Lata Pathak had pleaded in her application that the posts of Child Development Project Officer in the Directorate of Social Welfare were being filled by resorting to direct recruitment on contractual basis for a period of six months.

This was negating the right of the petitioners who were eligible to fill the post by way of promotions. The method of direct recruitment in preference to promotions was also against the statutory rules and thus illegal and arbitrary, Pathak alleged in her petition.
 
The petitioner further submitted that according to statutory rules, 25 per cent of the posts were required to be filled up by promotion.
 
The department in its reply submitted that contractual recruitments were resorted to so as to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court to operationalise all its Anganwadi Centres sanctioned by the Union Government and meet the deadline set by it.
 
The bench allowed the department to fill all the posts by direct recruitment till the rules are amended but directed that the last 25 per cent of candidates selected were to be informed in writing that the tenure of their service would last only till the persons from the feeder posts are promoted.