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National Highways Authority of India vs. G. Athipathi and Others

Not available · 2024 INSC 943Decided 9 Dec 2024
Not available
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia · Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah

Background

The respondent worked on deputation with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) as Manager (Technical) from 2008 to 2014, after which he was repatriated to his parent state government department. After a gap of over a year, he rejoined NHAI afresh through direct recruitment in 2015. When NHAI later issued a one-time circular allowing deputation service to count as regular service for promotion to Deputy General Manager (Technical), the respondent claimed his earlier 2008-2014 deputation stint should count, entitling him to promotion alongside three other officers. NHAI rejected his claim, but the Central Administrative Tribunal and the Madras High Court both ruled in his favour, prompting NHAI's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the promotion circular's benefit was meant only for officers who were continuously working with NHAI (whether on deputation or otherwise) at the relevant time, not for someone who had been fully repatriated to an unrelated parent department and later re-entered NHAI as a fresh direct recruit after a break of over a year. Since the respondent's earlier deputation service had reached "finality" upon his repatriation, and his re-entry in 2015 was a wholly new and unconnected appointment, his four-year eligibility period for promotion had to be counted afresh from 2015, not from his earlier deputation start date. The three other officers who did benefit from the circular were factually different because they remained continuously in NHAI's service. The Court therefore set aside the Tribunal's and High Court's orders, dismissed the respondent's original claim, but held that his future promotion consideration should be reckoned from his actual 2015 date of entry, and directed that no past excess payments already made to him be recovered.

Lesson Learnt

A service benefit or promotion circular must be read according to its actual purpose and wording: past service broken by a genuine departure and later fresh re-entry cannot automatically be "tacked on" to claim seniority-linked benefits, unless the rules or circular specifically say so.

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

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