Central Administrative Tribunal dismisses Khemka’s application

Khemka said the post of additional secretary or an equivalent post at the Centre had been wrongly denied to him

Finding ‘no merit’, the Chandigarh-bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal dismissed the application moved by IAS officer Ashok Khemka wherein he had sought direction from the Union government to consider his empanelment for holding additional secretary or an equivalent post at the Centre.

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The order mentioned that the matter relates to empanelment of applicant Ashok Khemka for holding additional secretary/ equivalent post at the Centre, which according to him had been wrongly denied to him.

Khemka argued that the eligibility criteria for such an empanelment requires a minimum three-year service at the Centre at the level of the deputy secretary or above.

“As per the officer, a number of officers who did not fulfil the said criteria have been appointed and three cases have been cited by him in this regard,” the order mentioned.

He also stated that non-empanelment at this stage would lead to a cascading effect and he will not be able to serve at the Centre at all. The tribunal observed: “An important issue before us is whether a person can claim empanelment as additional secretary in the Union Government as a matter of right.”

It adds: “Central Staffing Scheme clearly provides that appointment under the Union government under central staffing pattern is not a matter of right. Even the applicant has not challenged the Central Staffing Scheme. As such, no individual officer or no individual service can claim any right to these posts.”

Mentioning the guidelines for empanelment at Additional Secretary level, the order mentioned: “The applicant being a member of premier service would have been aware of these guidelines. It is normal expectation that if he was really keen to serve at the Centre, he should have taken sincere and sustained efforts to fulfill the eligibility criteria.”

Khemka’s submission that the civil services board specifically recommended his name for appointment in the Prime Minister’s Office has been denied by the Union government. As he did not provide any proof, the tribunal could not rely on this.

“We also note that the allegation of the applicant about non-reasonability of classification for not counting the State service in top administrative ranks for eligibility, does not appeal to reason,” the tribunal observed.