DEV DUTT v: UNION OF INDIA (Civil Appeal No.7631/2002) MAY 12 & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra 1988 (Supp) SCC 67 4; State of Gujarat & Ors.
Case at a glance
Outcome
Allowed
With these observations this appeal is allowed
Provisions considered
- Constitution of India art. 14
Judgment
1.3 The 'good' entry should have been communicated to the appellant so as to enable him to make a representa- G tion praying that the said entry for the year 1993-94 should be upgraded from 'good' to 'very good'. After considering such a representation it was open to the authority con cerned to reject the representation and confirm the 'good' entry (though of course in a fair manner), but at least an H 176 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 8 S.C.R. A opportunity of making such a representation should have been given to the appellant, and that would only have been possible had the appellant been communicated the 'good' entry, which was not done in the instant case. Hence, the non-communication of the 'good' entry was arbitrary and B hence illegal. [Para 11] [183-D-F] Vijay Kumar vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. 1988 (Supp) SCC 67 4; State of Gujarat & Anr vs. Suryakant Ch uni/a/ Shah 1999 (1) sec 529 - distinguished. c 0
1.4 The non-communication of an entry in the A.C.R. of a public servant is arbitrary because it deprives the con cerned employee from making a representation against it and praying for its up-gradation. Every entry in the Annual Confidential Report of every employee under the State, whether he is in civil, judicial, police or other service (ex cept the military) must be communicated to him, within a reasonable period, so as to enabl~ him to make a repre sentation against it. It makes no difference whether there is a bench mark or not. Even if there is no bench mark, non-communication of an entry may adversely affect E employee's chances of promotion (or getting some other benefit), because when comparative merit is being consid ered for promotion (or some other benefit) person having 'good' or ·average' or 'fair' entry certainly has less chances of being selected than a person having a 'very good' or 'outstanding' entry. Moreover, object of writing the confi dential report and making entries in them is to give an op portunity to public servant to improve his performance. [Paras 13, 14 and 45] [184-C-F;G,H; 185-A-B] F G
Questions this judgment answers
What did the Court decide in this case?
The Court recorded the following disposition: With these observations this appeal is allowed
Which statutory provisions did this judgment involve?
Constitution of India — art. 14.
Precedent status how later indexed judgments have treated this case
No known negative treatment found in the Courts & Cases corpus.
This is a result about the indexed corpus, not a finding that the judgment remains good law. Coverage may be incomplete.