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Neelima Srivastava v. The State of Uttar Pradesh

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 410Decided 17 Aug 2021
Civil Appeal No. 4840 of 2021
Justice S. Abdul Nazeer · Justice Krishna Murari

Background

The appellant was appointed as an Assistant Music Teacher at a Government Inter College in Uttar Pradesh in 1984, initially against a leave vacancy. Her appointment terms were later modified to end once the regular incumbent returned, and her services were purportedly terminated, but she kept working under cover of a court-granted interim order after she challenged the termination. Despite an earlier High Court judgment (which became final) recognizing her right to continue and to be considered for regularization, the State repeatedly refused to regularize her service, eventually leading a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court to rule against her by treating her appointment as an illegal "litigious" appointment under the Supreme Court's Umadevi(3) precedent.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the appellant's appointment, though irregular, was not illegal since she was appointed by the competent authority to a sanctioned post and held the required qualifications: this distinction matters because only "illegal" appointments are barred from regularization, while "irregular" ones (as clarified in M.L. Kesari) can be regularized after 10+ years of service. The Court also held that a final, unchallenged judgment between the same parties cannot be reopened merely because a later Supreme Court ruling (Umadevi) changed the general legal principle: finality of inter-parties litigation must be respected. It set aside the Division Bench's order and restored the regularization granted to the appellant, with consequential benefits within three months.

Lesson Learnt

A government employee who has worked for many years under conditions that make the appointment "irregular" rather than "illegal" can still claim regularization, and a court judgment that has become final between two parties cannot later be undone simply because a broader legal principle was subsequently changed by a higher court.

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

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