2004 PLP (C (PLC(CS))

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13. Retirement froth service‑‑‑(1) A civil servant shall retire from service‑‑‑ (i) On such date after he has completed twenty years of service qualifying for pension or other retirement benefits as the Competent Authority may, in public interest, direct; or (ii) where no direction is given under clause (i), on the completion of the sixtieth year of his age.

2. No direction under clause (i) of subsection (1) shall be made until the civil servant has been informed in writing of the grounds on which it is proposed to make the direction, and has been given a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against the said direction. Explanation.‑In this section, 'Competent Authority' means the appointing Authority prescribed in rule 6 of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1973."

6. The examination of the above section would show that the competent authority if finds that an employee has completed 20 years of service qualifying for pension and other benefits of service and should be retired in public interest, can pass an appropriate order after following the procedure provided in subsection (2) of the ibid section. The satisfaction of the competent authority regarding efficiency and performance of an employee is not to be substituted by the Court or Tribunal with its own opinion on the basis of analysis of the record. The Tribunal in the present case, without adverting to the question of public interest observed that the respondent was not dealt with fairly. It is not understandable that after coming to the conclusion that there was no legal defect in the show‑cause notice and the, order of retirement, on what basis the Tribunal set aside the order of retirement of the respondent. We for the purpose of ascertaining the question of exercise of jurisdiction in the light of guidelines of the Establishment Division, deem it appropriate to examine the matter in the light of said guidelines which are reproduced hereunder:‑‑ "

5. The Secretary of the concerned Administrative Ministry/Division has been authorized to constitute Review Committees for officers of BS‑19 and below subject to the proviso that each Review Committee should include a representative of Establishment Division as a Member of the Committee.

6. The Review Committees should examine the cases referred to them, and the committees may recommend retirement in the following cases: (a) Where two or more penalties under the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules; 1973, have been imposed on a civil servant. (b) Where adverse remarks in regard to acceptance of responsibility, integrity, reliability, output of work and behaviour with the public were recorded in the ACRS (duly conveyed to the concerned civil servant and his representation against it finalized, as per rules). (c) Where a civil servant is twice recommended for supersession by the Selection Board/DPS and approved by the competent Authority. (d) Where other specific and cogent grounds, including the following, may warrant retirement of a civil servant:, (i) persistent reputation of being corrupt: (ii) possessing pecuniary resources and/or property etc disproportionate to his known sources of income; and, (iii) frequent unauthorized absence from duty.

7. Where the Review Committee recommends retirement of a civil servant, specific reasons for doing so should be given. The recommendation of the Committee should be submitted for the approval of the competent authority. If the competent authority agrees with the recommendation of the Committee, a show‑cause notice shall be issued to the civil servant under sub‑section (2) of section 13 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973. After receipt of reply to the show‑cause notice the competent authority shall take the final decision." 7A. The perusal of these instructions would show that if Review Committee recommends the retirement of a. civil servant by giving specific reasons and the competent authority if agrees to the recommendations of the Committee, the procedure provided in subsection (2) of section 13 of the Act shall be followed and after receipt of the reply‑of the show‑cause notice, the competent authority may pass an appropriate order. We find that in the present case, the review committee was constituted as provided in para 5 of the instructions and the said Committee in the light of the provisions of para 6 of the guidelines, after examining record of the respondent, recommended for his retirement and the competent authority after following the procedure provided in subsection (2) ibid, passed the order, impugned before the Service Tribunal.

8. The perusal of the record in the light of the instructions in question and the provisions of section 13 of the Act, would not show that the order of retirement of respondent passed by the competent authority was suffering from, any legal defect and Tribunal also made an observation in this behalf. The procedure for exercise of power under section 13 of the Act is entirely independent to that of the procedure provided for regular inquiry in case of departmental action against an officer, and the competent authority if finds himself satisfied that the case of a civil servant is covered under instructions contained in O.M. dated 27‑7‑2000, can pass an order under subsection (1) of section 13 by following the procedure provided in subsection (2) of the said section.

9. Learned counsel representing the respondent has not been able to convince us that the power was not exercised by the competent authority in the public interest or that Tribunal was justified to substitute the opinion of competent authority with its own opinion after assessment of service record of the respondent.

10. We having examined the matter in the light of provisions of section 13 of the Civil Servants Act 1973 read with instructions contained in O.M. dated 27‑7‑2000, have found that the interference by the Tribunal in the matter was beyond the scope of section 4 of the Service Tribunals Act, 1973.

11. For the reasons given above, we convert this petition into appeal and by allowing the same set aside the impugned judgment. There will be no order as to costs. M.H./C‑80/SC Appeal allowed.