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Chandan Banerjee v. Krishna Prosad Ghosh

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 516Decided 21 Sept 2021
Civil Appeal No. 5582 of 2021
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Hima Kohli

Background

Sub-Assistant Engineers (SAEs) of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation who held only a diploma in engineering challenged a 2012 KMC circular that created "supernumerary" Assistant Engineer (AE) posts, allowing degree-holder SAEs to be promoted after just 13 years of service (with 5 as a degree-holder) while diploma-holder SAEs needed 25 years. A single judge of the Calcutta High Court struck down the circular as discriminatory, but a Division Bench reversed that and upheld it, leading to this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

Tracing a long line of precedent starting with the Constitution Bench decision in State of J&K v. Trilokinath Khosa, the Supreme Court held that classification based on educational qualifications for promotion purposes is permissible under Articles 14 and 16 so long as it has a rational nexus to a legitimate objective like administrative efficiency, even where employees were recruited through a common process. It found KMC had consistently distinguished between degree and diploma holders in promotion policy since 1997, that the circular did not completely foreclose promotional avenues for diploma holders, and that supernumerary postings did not disturb the regular promotion quota. The Court accordingly upheld the circular, affirmed the Division Bench, and dismissed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Employers, including government bodies, may lawfully set different promotion eligibility timelines based on educational qualifications, provided the distinction serves a genuine administrative purpose and does not entirely shut out the less-qualified category from promotion opportunities.

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

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