V. PADMAKUMAR Vs. S. CHANDRASEKHARAN POTTY & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The whole dispute pertains to the claims for transfer made by the appellant and respondent No.1 to Neyyattinkara Deveswom. The appellant joined service on 22nd August, 1991 and the 1st respondent on 24th February, 1979. We are informed that the 1st respondent is due to retire on 31st July, 2018. The appellant's claim is on the basis of the station seniority whereas the 1st respondent has claimed it both on the basis of station seniority and service seniority. According to the 1st respondent the date of order of transfer shall be the crucial date for reckoning the station seniority. Reference is invited to the following clause in the circular issued in February, 2015. Clause 16 reads as under:

(3.) We are afraid that the contention cannot be appreciated. If that contention is to be followed, the same may help delay the date of decision so as to make a person eligible, as it happened in the instant case. The Circular having prescribed a cut-off date for the receipt of the applications, under para 8, the station seniority has to be counted as on the last date of receipt of the applications. The eligibility must depend on that date, otherwise it would lead to arbitrary exercise of power. The whole purpose of paragraph 16 of the circular, which is extracted above, is to eliminate any dispute with regard to the commencement of the station seniority. Therefore, the appellant has to succeed on the question of law. The station seniority has to be reckoned with reference to the last date of the submission of application and not with reference to the date of transfer. The impugned judgment is hence set aside.