HC directs for fresh DPC for promotion of cop posthumously

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 3: High Court has directed the Home Department to constitute afresh the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) for considering the promotion of the cop posthumously after 25 years to the post of Assistant Commandant.
Krishan Singh Jasrotia had approached the court for non-inclusion in the list of promotees held in the year 1997 whereby about 63 similarly situated sub-Inspectors in J&K Police were promoted to the post of Assistant Commandant.
Justice Puneet Gupta said the respondent had not followed the instructions in terms of earlier judgment. The court viewed that the case of the petitioner-Jasrotia is required to be reviewed again by the DPC keeping in view the directions passed by the writ court in earlier plea of petitioner and also the grades recorded in the ACRs of the relevant years as the court is not to grade the performance of the petitioner and act as a substitute for the Departmental Promotion Committee.
Since the petitioner-Jasrotia during the pendency filed in 2002 died in 2014 and his wife and children moved application for legal heirs of the deceased-petitioner and after perusal of the record Justice Gupta said that it is not denied by the respondent-authorities that the petitioner was awarded the awards and given commendation letters as mentioned in the petition itself.
“It is also revealed from the record that the petitioner had very good grading in the ACRs recorded in the year 1993-1994 till 1997 when the DPC was held in the year 1997, 1998 and also on 20.06.2000. The ACRs of the petitioner of course remained the same of the years from 1992-1993 to 1997 during the DPCs held on 12.12.1997, 07.09.1998 and 20.06.2000”, Justice Gupta reiterated.
Court as such has quashed the communication whereby the promotion to the deceased as Assistant Commandant was rejected and directed the officials to constitute a DPC where the performance of the deceased-petitioner shall be assessed again and the DPC to record whether the petitioner is entitled to be promoted to the rank of Assistant Commandant from the year 1998 itself when the others were promoted as Assistant Commandants, uninfluenced by the earlier decision taken by the DPC.
Court has made it clear that in case it was found that the petitioner-late Krishan Singh Jasrotia is entitled to promotion as Assistant Commandant, he shall be entitled to all the pecuniary benefits as a consequence of the same.