Geetha V.M. v. Rethnasenan K.
Background
Kerala abolished the "dual control" system under which hospitals attached to medical colleges were run separately, and employees of the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) were absorbed into the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) after exercising an "option" to transfer. This triggered a dispute over seniority between these "absorbed" employees and the "original" DME employees. A Single Judge of the Kerala High Court ruled that absorbed employees keep their seniority from their original DHS appointment date, but a Division Bench reversed this, holding their DME seniority should instead run only from their date of joining DME.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court restored the Single Judge's view. It held that the relevant government order (G.O. dated 25.10.2008) and Kerala's own service rules required that seniority of absorbed employees be "maintained" with reference to their prior DHS service, because their transfer was not a voluntary "own request" transfer but a mandated administrative absorption flowing from a government policy decision to abolish dual control. A rule that strips seniority applies only to employees who sought transfer on their own initiative, not to those absorbed as part of a systemic reorganisation. The Division Bench's judgment was set aside, and the State was directed to redraw the DME seniority list accordingly.
Lesson Learnt
When employees are moved between government departments as part of an official policy decision, rather than by their own voluntary request, they are generally entitled to carry forward the seniority earned in their original post, since the move was not of their own choosing.