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Rajendra Prasad & Ors. vs State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 792Decided 4 Sept 2023
Civil Appeal No. 5610 of 2023
Abhay S. Oka · Rajesh Bindal

Background

The case concerned promotion of Group "D" employees to ministerial Group "C" posts in subordinate offices in Uttar Pradesh under the 2001 Recruitment-by-Promotion Rules, which reserve a 20% promotion quota split between employees who passed High School (15%) and Intermediate (5%) examinations. The appellants, senior Group "D" employees, were passed over when the District Magistrate, Sitapur promoted certain junior colleagues in 2014 after preparing a combined merit list that effectively wiped out the separate 15% High School quota. Their challenges before the High Court and the U.P. State Public Services Tribunal failed, and the High Court ultimately held that only marks-based merit, not the specific quota split, governed selection.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the State had not conducted any promotion process under this quota since 2015 despite vacancies existing, effectively freezing the appellants' promotional avenue for eight years even though an affidavit filed by the State showed four vacant slots (three under the High School quota, one under the Intermediate quota) remained available for the 2014 process. Invoking its special power under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice, the Court directed the State to promote four candidates, the appellants or others immediately below the 2014 promotees in the merit list, within two months, treating their promotion as effective from the date of the promotion order (not retrospectively), with seniority from the actual appointment date and no back-pay beyond what a Group "D" post already entitled them to. The Court expressly clarified that because the relief was granted under Article 142, it does not set a binding precedent for other cases.

Lesson Learnt

Government departments cannot indefinitely freeze a statutorily reserved promotion quota just because a combined merit list makes the split inconvenient to apply; but relief fashioned this way under Article 142 is case-specific and does not automatically extend to similarly placed employees elsewhere.

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

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