PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has begun hearing a petition challenging the promotions of seven Technical Assistants (TAs) in the Public Works Department (PWD), with notices issued to the respondents and the department.
Seven Junior Engineers (JEs) of the PWD have alleged that they were unfairly bypassed for promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer. In their plea, they argued that recruitment rules mandate a 60:40 promotion ratio in favour of JEs over TAs.
However, they claimed that in June this year, the government issued an ad hoc promotion order reversing this ratio, granting more posts to TAs and sidelining JEs. “This violates recruitment rules and the constitutional guarantee of equal opportunity in public employment,” the petitioners’ counsel told the court.
The petition further alleged that the order was issued to benefit certain TAs who were not even eligible for promotion. The High Court has made the notices returnable on September 23.
Earlier in June, the Goa Shiv Sena (UBT) had accused the PWD of favouritism and illegal promotions, demanding a high-level inquiry and warning of legal action.
The party claimed that 98 JEs and TEs were promoted to AEs, with 49 from regular service and another 49 on an ad hoc basis. While it raised no objection to the promotions of regular staff, it questioned the legality and fairness of the ad hoc appointments.
