Gujarat High Court
Union Of India vs Bhumika Bhavesh Patel W/O Bhavesh Patel on 12 August, 2025
Author: A.S. Supehia
Bench: A.S. Supehia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/13649/2020 ORDER DATED: 12/08/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 13649 of 2020
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UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
Versus
BHUMIKA BHAVESH PATEL W/O BHAVESH PATEL & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR RAMNANDAN SINGH(1126) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1,2,3,4
MR MS RAO(1144) for the Respondent(s) No.
1,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE R. T. VACHHANI
Date : 12/08/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA)
1. Five years have passed in the present writ petition and during these
five years, subsequent developments have taken place. Since this Court,
in the present writ petition, has not stayed the judgment and order passed
by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ahmedabad ("the Tribunal" for
short) dated 17.09.2020 in Original Application No. 266 of 2020 filed by
the respondents, no attempts have been made by the appellant - Union to
get the judgment and order passed by the Tribunal stayed. On the
contrary, it is noticed that the private respondents, who are eighteen in
number, have further been promoted to the post, the details of which are
as under:
"(a) Out of the aforesaid 18 respondents, as many as 11 respondents viz.
the respondents no. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14 & 17 came to be further
promoted as Sr.TC. Further out of the aforesaid 11 respondents, 4
respondents were granted further promotion to the post of CCTC. Present
all of them are serving in Vadodara Railway Division;
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(b) ln so far as the other 7 respondents herein are concerned, the latest
position is as under:-
(i) The respondents no.13 & 16 while serving in the promoted
post of TC had evinced interest and appeared in the LDCE selection
process for promotion to the post of "STATION MASTER" (for
which one of the feeder cadres is Group D staff) and were
subsequently promoted as Station Master and are presently serving
in the said capacity in Vadodara Railway Division;
(ii) The respondents no.8, 9, 11, 15 & 18 while serving in the
promoted post of TC evincing interest had appeared in the LDCE
selection process for promotion to the post of Goods Guard (now
redesignated as TRAIN MANAGER) (for which one of the feeder
cadres is Group D staff) and were subsequently selected and
promoted as TRAIN MANAGER and are presently serving in the
said capacity in Vadodara Railway Station;"
2. The private respondents had filed the Original Application No. 266
of 2020 before the Tribunal against the action of cancellation of the
promotional list only on the basis of complaints lodged by two non-
selected persons viz. Shri Santosh Dhoke and Shri Madhav Kumar.
However, Shri Santosh Dhoke got an inter-zonal transfer in the Central
Railway Zone, where he had appeared and got selected as Goods Guard,
and Shri Santosh Dhoke subsequently passed away. Shri Madhav Kumar,
during the pendency of the present petition, had appeared in the LDCE
selection process for promotion to the post of Station Master and got
promoted as Station Master in the Vadodara Railway Division. The
Tribunal, after considering the dispute as well as the facts, vide judgment
and order dated 17.09.2020, allowed the Original Application No. 266 of
2020, by recording as under:
"22. In the instant case, it is noticed that the respondents while
cancelling the written test or even in their reply in this O.A. had not stated
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any reason whatsoever for not complying the mandatory provision
stipulated in Para 228 (II) IREM Vol.1. The respondents failed to place
any record to justify their decision. The office of the respondent Nos.3 and
4 themselves had taken the corrective steps with regard to typographical
error in the options to the answers during the exam. Not only that, the
respondents had conducted the second phase of examination on 02.06.2019
and subsequently, declared the result of written test. It is noticed that only
18 candidates i.e., applicants herein were declared successful in the
selection process against the 32 vacancies of Group 'C'. In absence of any
material on record with respect to mass copying, malpractice or any
irregularities attributed to the applicants as also any irregularities said to
be continued in conducting the written test, the impugned decision for
cancelling the written test cannot be said to be a just and rational decision.
After completion of selection process and on declaration of final panel as
also on completion of two phase training of the selected candidates it
becomes mandatory for the respondents to follow the statutory provision
i.e., Para 228 of IREM Vol.1 before taking such harsh decision of
cancellation of written test. It is seen that the respondents have totally
given go by the aforesaid mandatory provision and arbitrarily passed the
impugned order, Thus, said decision suffers from infirmities being
arbitrary, same has been passed in contravention of statutory provision of
IREM as also contrary to the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in
the case of Mahipal Singh Tomar (supra).
23. In view of aforesaid discussion, the applicants have made out the
case for interference of this Tribunal since the decision making process of
the respondents is suffer from infirmities, the same is deserves to be set
aside, accordingly, we quash and set aside the impugned order dated
25.08.2020. We further direct the respondent Nos.3 and 4 to take
appropriate decision for filling up the vacant post of TC/TNC/ACC in
Traffic Department of Vadodara Railway Division on the basis of select
panel notified by respondent No.4 on 04.09.2019 within 45 days from the
date of receipt of Copy of this Order. O.A. stands allowed. No cost."
3. Thus, it is not in dispute that, when the order was passed by the
Tribunal, the petitioners had conducted a second written test and
subsequently declared the result of the written test, and the present
respondents, who were eighteen in number, were declared as successfully
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selected against the thirty-two vacancies. The petitioners have failed to
prove any material irregularity, illegality, or copying in the written test,
which has been attributed to the present respondents, who got
subsequently selected and whose names appeared in the promotional
select list. Before us also, there is no material produced which would
show that the present respondents have committed any material
irregularity, illegality, or copying in the written test.
4. Hence, we are not inclined to disturb the findings recorded by the
Tribunal, more particularly, in the wake of the facts that the private
respondents have been promoted to two promotional posts, including the
complaints lodged by the complainants and on whose complaints the
select list was set aside.
5. Under the circumstances, the present writ petition fails and is
rejected.
Sd/- .
(A. S. SUPEHIA, J)
Sd/- .
(R. T. VACHHANI, J)
MVP/51
