Promotion to a temporary post can be revoked: CAT

Promotion to a temporary post can be revoked: CAT30 Dec 2007, 1233 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has declined to set aside the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry's decision to revert an employee to a lower post holding that his promotion earlier was to a temporary post. A Bench comprising Justices V K Bali and L K Joshi observed that the very promotion of the petitioner appeared to be on a temporary-basis for a particular work and hence her promotion can be revoked. The petitioner was promoted to the post of Senior Proof Reader on a temporary sanctioned post for editing work of "UNESCO Doot". "There will be no illegality in reverting an incumbent to a post, who may be temporarily occupying the assigned job, when requirement of the same may come to an end," the Bench said. The Tribunal viewed that the impugned orders came on May 1 and 6, 2002 and by filing the petition by the end of 2007, the case was "hopelessly barred by time". "There was no occasion for the petitioner to have waited for the decision on her representation for such a long time," it said. The orders under challenge clearly revealed that the petitioner was reverted to post Proof Reader Junior on abolition of the temporary sanctioned post of Senior Proof Reader to which she was promoted for a particular work, the Tribunal held.