LexASHUTOSH versus INDIAN AIRLINES LTD. AND ORS.
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A ASHUTOSH ... ,,, v. INDIAN AIRLINES LTD. AND ORS. APRIL 18, 2007 B [S.H. KAPADIA AND B. SUDERSHAN REDDY, JJ.) Service Law: • c Seniority-Entitlement of-Promotion to the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer-Seniority of appellant vis-a-vis respondents~Appe/lants' case that he acquired approval qualification under the Rules for promotion prior to respondents, thus was senior-Held: Under the Rules, criteria for promotion was seniority amongst the qualified and not approval qualifications-Approval qualification-approval of nine groups and licence D ·on Jet Engine was prescribed under the Settlement filed before the Tribunal- However, on account of stagnation of respondents, conditional promotions given to them with retrospective effect based on policy decision thus, order granting conditional promotions did not violate the Rules-More so, ; respondents acquired approval qualifications at earlier point of time but E were communicated later-Also, Directorate General of Civil Aviation while granting approval did not go by seniority but gave approval to engineers junior to respondents-Indian Airlines Recruitment and promotion Rules. In terms of the settlement between the Indian Airlines and All India Aircraft Engineers' Association the existing designations were revised. The F new post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer was a created with effect from 1.4.1992 to be filled from the said feeder post of Sr. Aircraft Engineer. -+ ' Appellant was redesignated as Aircraft Engineer whereas respondent nos. 3 to 17 were redesignated as Sr. Aircraft Engineer w.e.f 1.4.1989. For promotion to the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer, the Sr. Aircraft Engineer (feeder post) had to acquire approval qualification (approval of nine groups) before G 1.4.1995. Indian Airlines established the Jet shop in 1992 in Delhi and the .. same did not get its approval in time from Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Respondents 3 to 17 could not complete their eligibility before the cut off ..,/ ' date and as such became stagnant. Then by order dated 7.2.1994 respondents 3 to 17 were given conditional promotions to the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft _, H 294 ~ -< (,, > ASHUTOSH v. INDIAN AIRLINES LTD. 295 Engineers with effect from 1.4.1992/1.4.1993 respectively. The Jet Shop was approved in February 1995. Respondents 3 to 17 were shown as senior to the appellant in the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer with effect from 1.4.1992/1.4.1993. It was appellant's case that it completed two years service in the post of Sr. Aircraft Engineer on 31.3.1993 and acquired the requisite qualification on 15.12.1993 whereas respondent nos. 3 to 17 till date have not acquired the requisite qualification and as such were not entitled to promotion to the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer and thus, Indian Airlines had erred in showing respondents 3 to 17 as se11ior to the appellant in the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer with effect from 1.4.1992/ 1.4.1993. Dismissing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1.1. Under the Recruitment and Promotion Rules, seniority amongst the candidates who qualified was the criteria for promotion. However, the said Rules did not prescribe such qualifications. They were left to the joint wisdom of the Management and the Association. The approval qualifications were prescribed under Settlement dated 31.3.1992. These approval qualifications were prescribed under clause 2(d) of Appendix 'A'. Appendix 'B' to the Settlement indicated that the candidate for promotion to the post of Deputy Chief Aircraft Engineer had to obtain approvals of nine groups and a licence on one Jet Engine of the Indian Airliens fleet. [Para 121 [304-A-B) 1.2. The recitals in the Industrial Settlement show that during the pendency of proceedings before the National Industrial Tribunal with regard to the parity of wage structure, bilateral negotiations took place and the settlement came to be filed before the Industrial Tribunal. Therefore, the eligibility criteria for appointment to various pay scales was laid down in para 2(d) of Appendix 'A'. This eligibility criteria for acquiring the approval qualification was not a part of the Recruitment and Promotion Rules. It was a part of the Industrial Settlement filed before the Industrial Tribunal pending A B c D E F the main dispute on the wage structure. After entering into the Settlement, while implementing, some difficultie
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