On March 28th, the Odisha High Court dissolved an order by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) concerning the promotion of a retired state civil service officer, Mr. Gadadhar Parida, into the IAS in light of the unfinished vigilance cases under the concerned officer’s authority.
The case record discloses that the IAS selection committee had recommended Mr. Parida’s name to the DoPT in November 2010. However, the DoPT dissented with the committee when elucidated about the number of vigilance cases pending against him. Officer Parida then moved the CAT while attaining the age of retirement at 58 years on January 31st, 2011.
At first, the high court dismissed the petition on November 7th, 2012, but after further pleading by the DoPT, the Supreme Court remitted the matter back to the high court on July 30th, 2014.
Officer Parida had been absolved from one of the vigilance cases; however, three other cases were pending against him. A two-judge bench of the Odisha High Court observed, “Therefore, in that case, the direction given by the Central Administrative Tribunal for grant of promotional benefit to opposite party no. 1 (Parida) cannot be sustained in the eye of law and is liable to be quashed and is hereby quashed.”
The Odisha HC’s observation on the matter was inspired by the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling — “No employee has a right to be promoted but has a right to be considered for promotion.”
