With just a few days before his retirement, a senior IAS officer's plea was allowed by the Delhi High Court which directed the Centre to empanel him for posting as a Secretary with effect from the date when others other officers of his batch got empanelled.
A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Rao allowed the plea of Rakesh Behari, a 1977 batch IAS officer, and set aside the Central Administrative Tribunal's August 2012 order dismissing his contempt plea.
"We direct the respondents (central government and the concerned ministry) to issue fresh orders empanelling the petitioner (Behari) for appointment as Secretary with effect from June, 2010 when officers of the 1977 batch were empanelled for posting as Secretary in the Government of India," the bench said.
In 2011, the senior officer was not empanelled for the post of Secretary on the ground that he didn't have two years remaining service as on March 1, 2012.
Accepting the arguments of the officer's counsel Geeta Luthra that her client is to retire by the end of this month and the CAT had in its November 2011 order asked the government to assign seniority to him on par with his batch- mates but the government has failed to comply with the CAT direction.
"The petitioner is retiring this month and he would not be able to enjoy the fruit of the directions of the Tribunal if the orders of August 1, 2012 and August 03, 2012 are allowed to stand and are not quashed," the lawyer had argued.
Accepting the argument, the bench said "Surely, empanellment as Secretary may enhance status in the administrative hierarchy and/or entail certain privileges after retirement....
