Summary of the Supreme Court's judgment
Implementation of Service Rule
Employees had approached the High Court for implementation of service rules for their promotion against the quota reserved for initial recruitment.
The Supreme Court observed that the present matter did not fall within the purview of terms and conditions of service and writ petition was competent.
The petitioners had sought direction for implementation of the quota reserved for their promotion.
The High Court was not to determine the suitability or right of promotion of any individual civil servant rather it was consequential relief that if direction was issued to the department for implementation of Service Rules then in that case direction for processing the case of promotion of the persons falling in the cadre had to be issued.
The Supreme Court set aside the impugned judgment passed by the High Court and remanded the case for decision on merit in accordance with law.
The appeal was allowed.
In simpler terms:
The Supreme Court ruled that the High Court was correct in admitting the employees' writ petition, as it did not fall within the purview of terms and conditions of service. However, the High Court should not have determined the suitability or right of promotion of any individual civil servant. Instead, the High Court should have issued a consequential direction to the department to implement the service rules for promotion against the quota reserved for initial recruitment.
The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's judgment and remanded the case for decision on merit in accordance with law. This means that the High Court will now have to decide the case based on its merits and in accordance with the law.