RAKESH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HOW the inter-se-seniority of officers is to be determined, when officers are taken from different departments, on transfer to a new department and a new cadre of officers is created, is the issue involved in the present writ petition. Questions posed for answer is whether determination of seniority in the newly created cadre would be on the basis of total length of service of the officer in the post before his transfer or on the basis of total length of service of the officer in the Government service.

(2.) TO answer the above question, it would apposite to extract herein below, factual matrix leading to the situation.

(3.) IN April 2005, the petitioner was belatedly promoted to the post of Executive Engineer, in the Department of Power(Electrical), retrospectively w.e.f 06.05.03 and was posted as Executive Engineer (E&M), in the Department of Hydro Power Development, because Department of Power (Electrical) was practically merged with the Hydro Power Development Department. Hence becoming part of the Hydro Power Development Department, was not a matter of petitioner's choice. The petitioner contended that from the very beginning he was a victim of circumstances, for being in the Department, which in various stages of development evolved as the Hydro Power Development Department.