Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
L. Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta

JUDGMENT

Hemant Gupta, J.

1. The candidates for direct recruitment to the posts of Administrative Officer/Assistant Assessor and Collector¹ are in appeals before this Court directed against an order passed by the High Court of Delhi on 1^st September, 2016.

2. The candidates who were initially appointed as Lower Division Clerks and promoted as Upper Division Clerks/Head Clerks invoked the jurisdiction of the Central Administrative Tribunal² challenging Advertisement No. 3 of 2013 dated 12^th September, 2013 whereby, the Respondents set in process to fill up the posts advertised by way of direct recruitment. The argument was that the Recruitment Regulations for the post of Administrative Officer/Assistant Assessor and Collector in North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations, 2013³ contemplate that the vacancies for the posts in question are to be filled up by promotion failing which by direct recruitment. It was thus alleged that without resorting to promotion by convening meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee⁴, the alternative process of direct recruitment cannot be resorted to. The said Original Application was dismissed by the Tribunal on 28^th May, 2015 by observing that the recruitment process is not against the constitutional provisions but the promotion must also not be tempered with. In the writ petition directed against such order, the High Court held that the Respondents have failed to comply with the Recruitment Rules and that only after the Respondents are unable to fill up the vacancies either by promotion or by transfer or by deputation, the Department would be entitled to publish the advertisement to fill up the vacancies. It was also found that no effort has been made to hold DPC to carry out promotions nor the Respondents have explored the possibility to fill up the vacancies either by transfer or deputation.

3. The advertisement was published to fill up 30 vacancies by direct recruitment to the posts in question out of which 8 were reserved for Other Backward Classes, 4 for Scheduled Castes, 2 for Scheduled Tribes and 16 were meant for General category candidates including 1 post meant to be filled up by physically handicapped candidate which is a horizontal reservation.

4. The Recruitment Rules were amended on 17^th June, 2013 i.e. before the advertisement was issued on 12^th September, 2013. The amended Rule reads as under:

5. A perusal of the above Rule shows that 50% of the posts are to be filled up by promotion. If the posts are not filled up by promotion, the same are to be filled up by direct recruitment. Similarly, 50% of the posts are meant to be filled up by deputation. If the deputationists are not available, the same are to be filled up by direct recruitment.

6. An affidavit dated 7^th August, 2019 has been filed on behalf of North Delhi Municipal Corporation⁵ as to how afte........