Ntpc Executives Federation Of ... vs Ntpc Ltd.
2019 Latest Caselaw 3450 Del

$~20
*      IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                                                 Date of decision: 26.07.2019

+      W.P.(C) 13171/2018 & CM APPLN. 51120/2018
       NTPC EXECUTIVES FEDERATION OF INDIA (NEFI)
                                                                  ..... Petitioner
                           Through      Mr.Vinay Kumar Garg, Sr. Adv. with
                                        Mr.Achal Gupta & Ms.Annie Rais,
                                        Advs.

                           versus

       NTPC LTD.                                           ..... Respondent
                           Through      Mr.I S Alag, Sr. Adv. with Mr.Adarsh
                                        Tripathi, Adv.

       CORAM:
       HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURESH KUMAR KAIT

                           J U D G M E N T (ORAL)

1. Vide the present petition, the petitioner seeks direction as under:-

a) Pass a Writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ direction

or order thereby striking down the arbitrary and cryptic order

dated 25th June 2018; and

b) Pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ,

direction or order thereby directing the respondent to declare

the total number of vacancies in each category of executives

before the promotion process begins; and

c) Pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ,

direction or order thereby directing the respondent to lay down

clear policies for moderation of PMS ratings wherein the

concerned executive may also have a right to raise a grievance

in relation to the said moderation;

d) Pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ,

direction or order thereby directing the respondent to lay down

specified objective/guidelines for the process of allocation of

CPC marks for promotability of an executive in the grade E-1

to E-5 in the letter and spirit of Statement of Company Policy

Regarding Promotion of Executives (Annexure-14); and

e) Pass a writ of mandamus or another appropriate Writ, direction

or order thereby directing the respondent to lay down specified

objective/guidelines for the process of promotion of female

executives who have availed maternity leaves in the letter and

spirit of Statement of Company Policy Regarding Promotion of

Executives (Annexure-14); and

f) Pass a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ,

direction or order thereby directing the respondent to review the

promotions passed for the year 2018 in terms of the guidelines

/policy

2. In the counter affidavit filed by the respondent, it is stated that the

petitioner is the Employees Association of the respondent Company which

is in place for more than 30 years. In this regard, it is to be considered that

the Association has always been aware of the policies issued from time to

time and the grievances raised in the present petition are being raised for the

very first time, which are completely vague in nature.

3. Further stated that the petitioner Association initially had preferred

W.P.(C) No. 3145/2018 on similar lines agitating same cause of action.

This Court vide order dated 03.04.2018 disposed of the said petition by

observing that the opportunity of hearing be provided to the petitioner

herein. Accordingly, the petitioner Association was duly called for hearing

by the respondent Company vide internal office order dated 23.05.2018. In

furtherance of the office order dated 23.05.2018 of the respondent Company,

the Committee, which is duly comprised of the members of the petitioner

Association, held more than 6 meetings. All the issues as raised by the

petitioner were duly taken note of and in furtherance of the same,

recommendations dated 07.08.2018 were prepared. The Said

recommendations duly took into consideration all the genuine grievances of

the petitioner Association and also suggested that certain rectificatory

measures could be taken. The report was prepared in consultation with the

petitioner Association and all the issues as raised are duly considered in the

said report.

4. It is further stated that in furtherance of the report dated 07.08.2018,

the respondent Company has accordingly started implementing the

suggestions and same is a gradual process which would be reflected in due

course of time.

5. It is not in dispute that the following recommendations are made by

the sub- Committee on the issues related to CPC-2018:

"RECOMMENDATIONS Considering the number of aberrations observed through the representative samples examined by the committee, recommendations of the Sub committee are as under:-

1. Corrective actions should be taken to resolve anomalies/discrepancies identified by the sub committee.

2. Appropriate corrective action should be taken through policy Interventions to avoid repetition of anomalies/discrepancies observed in CPC/RPC 2018,

3. Promotions should not be denied to the deserving candidates based on safety, related issues, unless his/her

role is established by any enquiry committee, honouring the principle of natural Justice.

4. Keeping In view the number of dropped cases in CPC/RPC-2018 and growing number of executives due for promotion in coming years, promotion percentage should be suitably increased."

6. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent submits that

Company has already started notifying the locations along with the

vacancies of posts available for promotion and the said concern stands

addressed. In these circumstances and in view of the above discussion,

nothing survives in the matter which requires interference of this Court.

7. Accordingly, while disposing of the present petition, I hereby direct

the respondents to take final decision on the recommendations mentioned

above within a period of six months or prior to the promotions, whichever is

earlier from the receipt of this order.

8. The petition is, accordingly, allowed and disposed of.

9. Pending application stands disposed of.

(SURESH KUMAR KAIT) JUDGE JULY 26, 2019/ab