SANTOSH GOBRU JADHAO Vs. UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE dispute pertains to inter se seniority between the petitioners herein, direct recruits, Santosh Gobru Jadhao and Vijay Kumar Bhaskar, and the promotee-respondents Nos.3 to 5, A.K. Dahiya, Vijay Kumar and Ganga Devi Gupta. THE petitioners and the respondents are working as Programmers in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC, for short).

(2.) THE seniority list prepared by the UPSC was successfully challenged by the respondent Nos.3 to 5 herein before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench (Tribunal, for short) in O.A.No.911/2007, which has been decided by the impugned decision dated 10th May, 2011. THE tribunal examined the question whether the criteria for the purpose of fixing the inter se seniority amongst the direct recruits and promotees should be the date of vacancy or the date of appointment and has held that in absence of any rule fixing seniority, date of appointment in the present case is the relevant criteria and not the date of vacancy.

(3.) IT is important and relevant to state here that the direct appointees and the promotees were not appointed in the same year. The decision and the ratio, to be applied relates to factual matrix when direct appointees and promotees are appointed in two separate years and whether in such circumstances, date of appointment, not the date of vacancy is relevant for the purpose of inter se seniority.