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Regional Director, Employees' State Insurance Corporation v. Soumitra Sengupta

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 1134Decided 23 Nov 2017
Civil Appeal No. 4611 of 2013
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Amitava Roy

Background

The employee (first respondent) had applied for an inter-regional transfer from Maharashtra to Orissa while working as a Lower Division Clerk (LDC), but by the time the transfer was actually effected, he had already been promoted to Upper Division Clerk (UDC) in Maharashtra. The ESI Corporation nevertheless transferred him to Orissa as an LDC rather than a UDC. The Orissa High Court held this was improper and that he should have been considered against any UDC vacancy in Orissa as of his transfer date. The Corporation appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed that transferring someone as an LDC when he was already a UDC was legally impermissible, and that his transfer had to be treated as a UDC-to-UDC transfer. However, since another employee had already been promoted to the one available UDC vacancy in Orissa in 2006 (and that person was not a party to the case), the Court could not simply displace him. The Court therefore modified the relief: the respondent would get only notional benefits (seniority restoration and pay refixation) from the date of his original transfer until he actually became a UDC in Orissa through the normal promotion route in 2011, but no back monetary benefits for that intervening period. Subject to this modification, the appeal itself was dismissed, with consequential orders to be passed within three months (including treating a supernumerary post as created if needed).

Lesson Learnt

When a government/public-sector employer transfers staff between regions, it must honour the employee's actual designation at the time of transfer; however, courts will balance an employee's seniority rights against the settled rights of a third party who has already filled the relevant vacancy, often by granting notional rather than full monetary relief.

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

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