Ganga Vishan Gujrati & Ors. v. The State of Rajasthan & Ors.
Background
The appellants were serving Patwaris in Rajasthan's Revenue Department who cleared a departmental examination and were promoted to the post of Land Records Inspector (LRI). They argued their seniority as LRIs should be counted from the year the underlying vacancies originally arose (2008-2010), rather than the later year they were actually selected and promoted, relying partly on a 2014 rule amendment. The State left them out of the seniority list on the older rule's basis, leading to litigation: a Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court ruled in the appellants' favour, but a Division Bench reversed that, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Court held that the seniority rule in force at the relevant time (Rule 171-A(2) of the Rajasthan Land Revenue (Land Records) Rules, 1957, prior to its 2014 amendment) based seniority on continuous officiation in the post, not on the year in which the vacancy notionally arose. It rejected the appellants' argument that a separate set of rules dealing with delayed departmental promotion committees could override this, since those rules only apply to posts filled by both direct recruitment and promotion, which was not the case for LRIs. The Court agreed with the Division Bench's ultimate conclusion (though for its own distinct reasoning) that the appellants could not claim seniority dated to an earlier vacancy year simply because the departmental exam for that year was delayed. All connected appeals were dismissed.
Lesson Learnt
In government seniority disputes, the rule in force at the time the appointment was actually made generally governs: a later, more favourable amendment to the seniority formula does not automatically apply backward unless the rule itself says so.