Nand Kumar Manjhi & Anr. Etc v. The State of Bihar Etc
Background
The appellants were appointed as Assistant Conservators of Forests (ACFs) in Bihar in 1988 and 1989, purportedly against a 1985 recruitment advertisement whose select list had, in fact, already been exhausted by earlier appointments. Their appointments were later found to be irregular, and after years of litigation and internal deliberation, the State regularised their service only with effect from 2005 rather than their original 1988 appointment date. When a final seniority list placed them at the very bottom, below officers appointed or promoted after them, they challenged this before the Patna High Court, which ruled against them, leading to this appeal.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the appellants' original 1988 appointments were made beyond the number of posts actually advertised in 1985 and were therefore wholly illegal and not a "substantive appointment" under the applicable seniority rule (Rule 35 of the Bihar Forest Service Rules). Since seniority must be reckoned from the date of substantive, rules-compliant appointment, and the appellants only secured a lawful foothold in service when their appointments were regularised in 2005, the Court held they could not claim seniority from 1988. The appeals were dismissed and the High Court's judgment was affirmed.
Lesson Learnt
An appointment obtained outside the sanctioned vacancies or in breach of recruitment rules, even if later regularised on humanitarian grounds after long service, does not entitle the appointee to seniority counted from the (irregular) starting date; seniority follows the date of a valid, rules-compliant appointment.