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Ajit Kr. Bhuyan & Others v. Debajit Das & Others

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 977Decided 23 Oct 2018
Civil Appeal No. 10662 of 2018
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

Debajit Das, an Assam PWD engineer, was given an ex-cadre post of Executive Engineer in 2005 while serving as Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister, and was encadred into the regular cadre within months even though he had not completed the five years' service required by the rules. He was later promoted further to Superintending Engineer in 2014, allegedly by inflating the number of available vacancies from ten to thirteen. Three senior engineers (the appellants) and the State of Assam challenged these promotions; the High Court's Single Judge found the promotions illegal and fraudulent, but the Division Bench, while agreeing the promotions were flawed, restored Das's position on the ground that the challenge was filed too late (delay and laches).

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the Division Bench was wrong to excuse the illegality on grounds of delay, since the record showed deliberate favouritism and fraud at three levels: an ex-cadre post created solely for Das, an inflated vacancy count used to justify his encadrement, and a promotion given before he was even eligible under the service rules. The Court held that fraud vitiates every action and cannot be shielded by a plea of delay, especially where a reasonable explanation for the delay (a government inquiry) existed. It allowed the appeals, set aside the Division Bench's judgment, and restored the Single Judge's order holding the promotions illegal.

Lesson Learnt

A promotion obtained through manipulation of vacancy numbers or without meeting basic eligibility conditions is fraudulent and can be struck down by courts even years later, unlike ordinary delay, fraud does not get a free pass just because time has passed.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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