Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Mar 29: The High Court today directed the Government to give promotion to the employees of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) Kashmir retrospectively.
Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul in an elaborated judgment has clarified that the petitioners who were working in SKUAST-K as Assistant Professors, Junior Scientists are entitled to the promotion to the post of Associate Professors and Senior Scientists from the date they have completed required number of years of service for the promotion posts.
Court has quashed the condition as laid by the SKUAST-K in their promotion whereby they were given effect of the promotion from the date of their active joining on the post in question with the direction to the SKUAST authorities to give effect to the orders of promotion in favour of these employees under Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) as Associate Professors/Senior Scientists on completion whereof they became entitled to promotion for the post with all consequential benefits.
Court has held that the condition imposed in their orders of promotion is illegal and was not removed by the authorities of the SKUAST-K despite that they were to be treated at par with similarly situated employees of University in whose cases such a condition for promotion was not imposed.
Giving the reference of other employees of the University who were given the promotion to the post in question without laying any condition in their promotion order, the Court said the petitioner-employees have been discriminated against and have been treated differently and illegally denied the promotion from the date they were entitled to.
“As such, the condition in the order of promotion is liable to be quashed and order of promotion is to be made effective from the date petitioners were eligible for promotion”, read the judgment.
The counsel representing the SKUAST argued before the court that the petitioner-employees did not fulfil the eligibility criteria at the time of completion of nine years service as Assistant Professor and Junior Scientist because they were lacking two requisite training courses of approved duration.
The court to these arguments of the Counsel appearing for the University said that the respondent-University in order to deny the benefit of the promotion to petitioners, arbitrarily and illegally from the due date have sent their cases to the Screening Committee which had made the order of promotion effective from the date of their joining of active service without there being any justification.
Court while referring to the promotion of similarly situated employee of the Campus said that his order of promotion does not contain the condition that same would take effect from the date of his joining active service as is in the case of petitioners who joined SKUAST Srinagar in 2009 and their promotions were made effective from the date they joined active service and not from the date they became eligible.
This condition in the promotion order of the petitioners court recorded, is arbitrary and illegal and clarified that their promotion was to be reckoned from the date they became eligible and in accordance with the recommendations of the Selection Committee, which was approved by the Board of Management, and the promotion was to be given effect from the due dates according to CAS for Teachers, as has been done in the case of other employee of the campus.
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