Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 6: High Court has held that out of turn promotion by the Government servants particularly in the belt force cannot be sought as a matter of right and a proper mechanism evolved in this regard has to be followed strictly.
These observations were made by Justice Janak Rak Kotwal while dismissing a petition filed by one Parvinder Kumar Sharma, who was seeking out of turn promotion on the analogy of those who were given this benefit for exceptional performance on the anti-militancy front.
The ground of the petitioner was that he too was part of the Special Task Force which had fought with the militants in Doda district in the year 2011. His grievance was that while 10 respondents were given out of turn promotion by the Police Headquarters the remaining members including the petitioner were given only cash award.
Advocate Virender Bhat appearing for the petitioner submitted that petitioner has been arbitrarily ignored for out of turn promotion in as much as his role and performance in the operation, which was no less than the respondents. He further submitted that the petitioner has been illegally discriminated and his fundamental right of equality enshrined under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India has been violated.
However, Additional Advocate General, Wasim Sadiq Nargal submitted that petitioner has no cause of action because out of turn promotion is granted on the basis of outstanding performance on anti militancy front, which is a factor to be determined by the officers of the Police Department and the administration and cannot be agitated or disputed by invoking writ jurisdiction of the court. He also relied upon the judgment delivered in Tilak Raj Thakur and Others Versus State of J&K and Others.
After hearing both the sides, Justice Janak Raj Kotwal observed, “whether performance of a police man on anti-militancy front was exceptional or not is a question of fact which can be determined only by the competent officers of the department and normally should not be put to judicial review unless a strong case of non compliance with prescribed procedure or discrimination is made out”.
“No ground, much less a sufficient ground, for re-examining the evaluation done by the competent officers in exercise of power of judicial review of this court is made out in this case”, Justice Kotwal said while dismissing the writ petition.
Follow our WhatsApp channel