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Abdul Jabbar v. Ram Bihari Pandy & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 603Decided 12 Jul 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 8018-8019 of 2013
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

The appellants challenged promotions made in 1981 by a respondent institution, based on a trade test conducted under a "merit-cum-seniority" promotion policy. They contended the test and resulting merit list were unfair. The respondent's counter-affidavit noted that although the promotion principle was briefly changed to "seniority-cum-merit" in 1986, it was later restored to merit-cum-seniority. Both the Trial Court and the High Court had ruled against the appellants.

Decision Breakdown

The appellants' counsel chose not to press a pending interlocutory application, which was accordingly dismissed as not pressed. On the merits, the Supreme Court found no ground to interfere with the concurrent findings of the Trial Court and High Court upholding the merit-based promotions, and dismissed the appeals (along with the connected appeals in the same matter) with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Where two lower courts have already reached the same factual conclusion on a service dispute (a "concurrent finding"), the Supreme Court will generally not re-open and re-decide the facts a third time absent a clear legal error.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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