(1) Appointment by promotion to different grades shall be made from the lower grades as specified in the Schedule.
(2) All promotions shall be made against sanctioned posts available as per Schedule hereto, by the Appointing Authority on recommendations of the Selection Committee based on suitability and relative merit:
Provided that in assessing the suitability and relative merit of an employee for promotion, performance of such employee in the post or grade, from where he is being considered for promotion, shall be considered and the Authority shall prepare a brief of the eligible officers and employees indicating their past experience, performance reports, vigilance status, exceptional contributions etc. for the consideration of the Selection Committee:
Provided that zone of consideration for promotion amongst the eligible candidates shall be three times the number of vacancies available and subject to availability of records for promotion of all such candidates shall be considered on the basis of their records for an equal period that may be determined by the Authority. If records of any candidate are not available for the period fixed, records of such candidate for first year preceding the said fixed period shall be considered. In case, records of first year preceding the fixed period is not available, then records for second year preceding the fixed period shall be considered. This principle shall be applied for all years for which records are not available. In case, as per abovementioned, requisite number of candidates is not available to constitute zone of consideration for available vacancy/vacancies, all the officers who are otherwise available shall be considered:
Provided further that promotion to the posts up to Level 11 shall be made on seniority cum merit, in accordance with the benchmark prescribed by the Authority. Provisions of immediately preceding proviso shall also apply to the promotion to the posts up to Level 11.