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High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan v. Abhay Jain

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 762Decided 29 Jul 2026
MA-002228-002228 - 2026 (arising in Civil Appeal No. 2029 of 2022)
Justice J.B. Pardiwala · Justice Manoj Misra · Justice K. Vinod Chandran

Background

Abhay Jain, a judicial officer, was wrongfully discharged from service in 2016; the Supreme Court in 2022 ordered his reinstatement "with all consequential benefits including continuity of service and seniority." When he later sought promotion to Selection Scale and Super Time Scale, the Rajasthan High Court's Full Court found him ineligible because he lacked the required number of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) for the years he was wrongly kept out of service (2016-2021), and filed this application asking the Supreme Court to clarify whether "consequential benefits" included these promotions despite the missing ACRs.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that since the non-availability of ACRs was entirely the High Court's own doing (through its wrongful discharge of the officer), it could not rely on that gap to deny him promotion: a party cannot benefit from its own wrong. Applying its precedents in K.V. Jankiraman, Prabhu Dayal, and R.K. Jibanlata Devi, the Court ruled that Jain's entitlement should be assessed using his remaining valid ACRs (2013 and 2014, both rated "Very Good"/"Good"), which were sufficient to qualify him. It directed that he be granted Selection Scale effective 16.07.2018 and Super Time Scale effective 16.07.2021, the dates his batch-mates and juniors received these scales, with arrears computed subject to the earlier 50% back-wages order.

Lesson Learnt

When an employer's own wrongful action (like an illegal termination) creates a gap in an employee's service record, that gap cannot later be used against the employee to deny promotion or benefits: the employee's case must be assessed on whatever valid records do exist.

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

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