Jharkhand HC orders retrospective promotion for Coal Mines Provident Fund officers from 2019
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA Ranchi, July 10: The Jharkhand High Court has directed the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation (CMPFO) to grant retrospective…
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, July 10: The Jharkhand High Court has directed the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation (CMPFO) to grant retrospective promotions to five officers to the post of Assistant Commissioner from 2019, holding that they were wrongly denied the benefit despite being eligible under the Recruitment Rules, 2017.
Justice Deepak Roshan ordered the CMPFO to shift the dates of promotion of the officers from 2024-25 to 2019 and complete the exercise within eight weeks.
The beneficiaries of the judgment are Naveen Nishchhal, Mitrajit Kumar Akela, Pradeep Kumar, Naveen Prakash and Rahul Kumar.
The Court excluded Rajesh Ranjan, the sixth petitioner, from the relief in view of the disciplinary proceedings pending against him.
Promotion denied despite eligibility
The petitioners were appointed as Provident Fund Inspectors in 2015 and sought promotion to the post of Assistant Commissioner, contending that they had fulfilled the eligibility criteria under the Recruitment Rules.
The Court noted that although the CMPFO and its employees were governed by the Recruitment Rules, 2017 until the Recruitment Rules, 2024 came into force, the petitioners were denied the promotional benefits available under the 2017 Rules even as other eligible employees received promotions and financial benefits.
The respondents had themselves admitted in their counter affidavit that the petitioners became eligible for promotion after completing four years of regular service and that their cases would be considered after the litigation before the Telangana High Court was decided.
Court finds denial unjustified
Justice Roshan observed that the legal hurdle cited by the CMPFO ceased to exist after the Telangana High Court disposed of the related litigation in June 2023, before the Recruitment Rules, 2024 were notified.
The Court held that the petitioners’ accrued rights under the Recruitment Rules, 2017 could not be defeated merely because they were eventually promoted under the 2024 Rules.
It further noted that while the petitioners had been granted notional promotion as Enforcement Officers/Accounts Officers with effect from May 26, 2017, they were denied promotion to Assistant Commissioner from 2019 under the same rules, despite the employer acknowledging their eligibility.
Court issues directions
Allowing the writ petition, the High Court directed the CMPFO to consider the cases of petitioners Naveen Nishchhal, Mitrajit Kumar Akela, Pradeep Kumar, Naveen Prakash and Rahul Kumar for promotion to the post of Assistant Commissioner from 2019 and issue necessary orders revising their promotion dates from 2024-25 to 2019 within eight weeks.
The writ petition was accordingly allowed.
