UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONversusL.P. TIWARI

    272                    SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 9 S.C.R.

A application before Tribunal challenging the selectien for the year 2002. The
    Tribunal, compared the merit and demerits of the parties as reflected in their
    Annual Confidential report, and gave the finding that patent material
    irregularities had been committed by the Selection Committee for the
    concerned year and hence the entire selection process was liable to be reviewed.
B   The Writ Petitions filed by the Commission were dismissed by High Court.
    Hence the present appeal.

          Allowing the appeals, the court

           HELD: 1. At no stage of the proceedings, either before the Tribunal or
    the High Court or even before this Court, has any allegation of malafides
C   been raised against the Selection Committee and the only grievance is that
    the Selection Committee erred while making assessment of the comparative
    merits of the respective candidates. The methodology which has been evolved
    and included in the Regulations for grading the eligible officers have been
    religiously followed by the Selection Committee which did not call for any
D   interference by the Tribunal. The High Court has merely followed the decision
    of the Tribunal without independently applying its mind to the facts involved.
                                                             1276-B-D; 276-F-G)
          2. The evaluation made by an expert committee should not be easily
    interfered with by the Courts which do not have the necessary expertise to
E   undertake the exercise that is necessary for such purpose. It was not prudent
    on the part of the Tribunal to have adopted such a procedure which would
    amount to questioning the subjective satisfaction of the Selection Committee
    in preparing the Select List. (276-B; E)

          UP.S.C. v. K. Rajaiah and Ors., (2005) to SCC 15, relied on.
F
          CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 5155 of2006.

        From the Judgment and Order dated 14.3.2006 of the High Court of
    Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in W.P. Nos. 3718 and 3719 of2005 (S).

G         L.N. Rao, Ms. Binu Tamta for the Appellant.

         Ramji Srinivasan, Hari Shankar K., Vikas Singh, Santosh Kumar, Prashant
    Kr. Mishra, Gr. Capt. K.S. Bhati, D.S. Mabra and B.S. Banthia for the
    Respondents.

H         The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
        UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION"· L.P. TIWARI [ALTAMAS KABIR, J.)     273

      ALT AMAS KABIR, J. Leave granted.                                               A
      Shri L.P. Tiwari, respondent No. l in the first matter and Shri DP.
Dwivedi, respondent No. l in the second matter, were serving as State Service
Forest Officers in the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests in the office
of the Divisional Forest Officer, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Both the said
officers became eligible to be promoted to the Indian Forest Service under the        B
provisions of the J.F.S. (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1966
(hereinafter referred to as 'the Regulations') Regulation 3 of the said Regulations
provides for the appointment of a Selection Committee consisting of the
Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission or where the Chairman is
unable to attend, any other Member of the Union Public Service Commission             C
along with the following members as far as the State of Madhya Pradesh is
concerned:-

       (i)    Chief Secretary to the Govt. of M.P;

       (ii)   Secretary to the Govt. of M.P. dealing with Forests;
                                                                                      D
        (iii) Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of M.P.;

        (iv) Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt.of M.P. and;
        (v)   A nominee of the Govt. of India not below the rank of Joint
              Secretary to the Govt. of India.
                                                                                      E
     All meetings of the Selection Committee are presided over by the
Chairman/Member of the Union Public Service Commission.

       In keeping with the Regulations, the Selection Committee classifies
eligible State Forest Service Officers coining within the zone of consideration
as "outstanding"; "very good"; "good" or "unfit" on an overall assessment             F
of their service records. Thereafter, as per Regulation 5 (4), the Selection
Committee prepares a list by including the required number of names first from
amongst officers classified as "outstanding" and then from amongst those
classified as "very good'', and thereafter from amongst those classified as
"good". The names within each category are set in the order of their respective
inter se seniority in the said Forest Service.                                        G
      The Annual Confidential Reports of the eligible officers form the basis
on which such officers are categorized in the manner indicated above. However,
while making ·an overall assessment, the Selection Committee also takes into
account orders and remarks regarding appreciation for meritorious work done           H
            274                      SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2006] SUPP. 9 S.C.R.

        A by the concerned officer. Similarly, orders awarding penalties or any adverse ··
1
    ·       remarks communicated to the officer and whiCh have not been expunged are·
            also taken into consideration while grading the officers.
                                                                                                  /

                   In the instant case, a meeting of the Selection Committee was held on
            12th and 13th December, 2002 to prepare the yearwise Select List for the years
        B   200 I and 2002 for promotion to the l.F.S. cadre of Madhya Pradesh in accordance
            with the aforesaid Regulations. The size of the Select List for the year 200 I
            was I I and 9 for the year 2002. As the zone of consideration in each year
            is taken as three times the number of vacancies available, 33 names were
            considered for the 11 vacancies for the year 2001 and 27 names were considered
        C   for filling up the 9 vacancies for the year 2002. On an overall assessment of
            his service records, the Selection Committee assessed Shri L.P. Tiwari as
            beirig "very good". On such assessment, his name was included at serial no.
            I 0 in the Select List of 200 I for promotion to the Indian Forest Service. The
            respondent Nos. 4 to 8 were assessed as "outstanding" by the Selection
            Committee and were included at serial nos. 3 to 7 in the Select List.
-n
                  Aggrieved by his placing at serial no. I 0 in the Select List, Shri L.P.
            Tiwari filed O.A.No. 118/2004 before the Central Administrative Tribunal,
            Jabalpur (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal') claiming that he ought to
            have been assessed as "outstanding" and should have been assigned seniority
            in the Indian Forest Service Cadre over respondent Nos. 4 to 8.
        E
                    Although, Shri D.P. Dwivedi's name was also considered and placed at
             serial no. 8 in the Select List for the year 2001 and he was also graded as "very
            good" by the Selection Committee, his name did not find place in Select List
            for the year 200 I on account of the statutory limit on the size of the Select
        F   List. He was also not considered for promotion t<? the Select List. of 2002 as
            he had crossed the age of 54 years on I st January, 2002 which was the date
            fixed for reckoning the eligibility of officers for inclusion in the Select List of
            2002. Shri Dwivedi also filed Original Application No. 16/2003 before the
            Tribunal challenging the selection/appointment of the State Forest Officers to
            the I.F.S. cadre for the year 2002.
        G
                  The two aforesaid applications as also the application filed by one M.
            Ramachandran (O.A.No. 69/2003) were taken up for hearing together since the
            grievances were more or less common, although the prayer in Shri L.P.
            Tiwari's application was different from the others. While the others prayed for ·
            a de novo selection by a Review Departmental Promotion Committee, Shri L.P.
        H   Tiwari prayed for a declaration that he ought to have been assessed as
        UNIONPUBLICSERVICECOMMISSIONv. LP. TIWARI[ALTAMASKABIR,J.)         275
"outstanding" in the year 2001 and that he should be assigned seniority in         A
the I.F.S. Cadre over the respondent Nos. 4 to 8 and others. The learned
Tribunal adopted a rather unusual procedure in dealing with the applications
after going through the Annual Confidential Reports of the applicants in
detail. On a comparison of the merits and demerits of the parties as reflected
in their Annual Confidential Reports, the Tribunal came to a finding that
patent material irregularities had been committed by the Selection Committee       B
for the year 200 I for which the entire selection process for the year 200 I was
liable to be reviewed. The respondents were accordingly directed to convene
a meeting of the Selection Committee to review the proceedings of the Selection
Committee for the year 2001 in the iight of the observations made in the
Tribunal's order and thereafter to grant all consequential benefits within a       C
period of three months from the date of communication of the order.

      The Union Public Service Commission filed two separate Writ Petitions
in regard to the applications filed by Shri L.P. Tiwari and Shri D.P. Dwivedi
being W.P.No. 3718/05 (S) and W.P. No. 3719/05 (S). Both the Writ Petitions
were taken up for hearing on 9th March, 2006 and ultimately by its judgment D
dated I 4th March, 2006, the High Court upheld the findings of the Tribunal
and dismissed both the Writ Applications. The High Court directed the
respondents to hold a Review Departmental Promotion Committee in accordance
with the Rules within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of a certified .
copy of the order and submission of the same to the competent authority by E
Shri L.P. Tiwan and Shri D.P. Dwivedi. This appeal has been preferred by the
Union Public Service Commission against the aforesaid judgment and order
of the High Court affirming the order and directions given by the Tribunal.

       On behalf of the appellant, it was contended that both the Tribunal as
also the High Court had misdirected themselves in directing a Review p
Departmental Promotion Committee to be held since the entire procedure
leading to the preparation of the Select List both for the years 200 I and 2002
was strictly in accordance with the Regulations and there had been no
deviation therefrom. It was urged that the Selection Committee had acted
strictly in accordance with the parameters laid down by the Regulations . .In
fact, Mr. Rao, learned senior counsel, took us through each step of the G
procedure which is adopted by the Selection Committee while grading the
eligible candidates in the different categories. Having regard to the provisions
in the Regulations that the Annual Confidential Reports of the past five years
would be taken into consideration for preparing the Select List, the Tribunal
appears to have committed an error in relying on Annual Confidential Reports       H
    276                     SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2006] SUPP. 9 S.C.R.

A   of even previous years and thereby widening the scope of selection. Such
    an erroneous approach has led the Tribunal to wrongly conclude that the
    Selection Committee had erred in grading the eligible officers.

          It is now more or less well-settled that the evaluation made by an expert
    committee should not be easily interfered with by the Courts which do not
B   have the necessary expertise to undertake the exercise that is necessary for
    such purpose. Such view was reiterated as late as in 2005 in the case of
    UP.SC. v. K. Rajaiah & Ors., reported in [2005] I 0 SCC 15, wherein the
    aforesaid Rules for the purpose of promotion to the l.P.S. Cadre was under
    consideration. Apart from the above, at no stage of the proceedings, either
    before the Tribunal or the High Court or even before this Court, has any
C   allegation of mala tides been raised against the Selection Committee .and the
    only grievance is that the Selection Committee erred while making assessment
    of the comparative merits of the respective candidates. While concluding his
    submissions, Mr. Rao had pointed out that the direction given by the High
    Court to the appellant to hold a Review Departmental Promotion Committee
D   was also erroneous since the Regulations provided for selection to be made
    not by a Departmental Promotion Committee but by a Selection Committee
    constituted as per the Regulations.

          Although, on behalf of the respondents it has been urged that there
    was no bar which precluded the Tribunal from looking into the original ACRs
E   of the respective candidates, what we are required to consider is whether it
    was at all prudent on the part of the Tribunal to have adopted such a
    procedure which would amount to questioning the subjective satisfaction of
    the Selection Committee in preparing the Select List.

           From the submissions made and the materials on record, we are satisfied
F   that the methodology which has been evolved and included in the Regulations
    for grading the eligible officers have been religiously followed by the Selection
    Committee which did not call for any interference by the Tribunal. The High
    Court has merely followed the decision of the Tribunal without independently
    applying its mind to the facts involved.

G     · We accordingly allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the High
    Court impugned in this appeal as also that of the Tribunal.

          There will, however, be no order as to costs.

    K.K.T.                                                         Appeal allowed.

H