Corporation Is An Independent Entity, Internal Service Rules Will Prevail Over Govt Office Memoranda: J&K High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court dismissed the writ Petition holding that Government office Memoranda will not prevail over the internal service rules relating to promotion unless these rules are specifically challenged before the court. It was held that an employee facing criminal charges would be barred from being considered for promotion until completely exonerated as per the said internal rules.

A bench of Justice Puneet Gupta observed that The Corporation being an independent entity has every power to frame its Rules and Regulations for its working. Court said that the 'Rules applicable on the subject do not entitle the petitioner for the relief as sought for by him in the writ petition.'

The government office memoranda on which Petitioner was relying, provided that an employee will not be debarred from being considered for promotion if the criminal cases against the said employee are pending for more than 2 years.

The Court pointed out that, "The petitioner has not challenged the relevant Rules which come in the way of the petitioner for consideration of further promotion. In the absence of challenge to the Rules by the petitioner in the writ petition qua the claim for promotion, the Court is not to obliterate the Rules of promotion which may be to the detriment of the petitioner."

The Court, therefore, refused to grant the relief to the petitioner in view of the specific bar created by the Rules for granting further promotion to the petitioner in the situation he is presently placed.

However, the court also took note of the fact that Petitioner's grievances were partially addressed as he was accorded one promotion to the post of Deputy Manager (Electrical) during the pendency of the writ petition.

BACKGROUND:

In this case, the grievance of the Petitioner was that the fact that a criminal case which was pending against him for the past 10 years should not bar him from being considered for the impending promotions due to him. The petitioner sought to rely on the government office memoranda which remove the bar for being considered for promotion when the delay in a criminal case exceeds more than 2 years.

However, the court took into consideration the internal service rules of the organization which also provided that during the pendency of the criminal proceedings against any employee, the same was barred from being considered for promotion unless fully exonerated and considering the fact that these conflicting internal rules were not challenged. Thus, the court dismissed the petition.

APPEARANCE:

For Petitioner Rahul Pant, Sr. Advocate

With Anirudh Sharma, Advocate.

For Respondents

A.P.Singh, Advocate

Mr. Nikhil Verma, Advocate

Case-Title Rajesh Singh vs National Hydro Electric Power Corporation Ltd. (NHPC) & Anr

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (JKL) 30

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