Secretary, Minor Irrigation Deptt. & R.E.S. v. Narendra Kumar Tripathi
Background
Narendra Kumar Tripathi, an engineer with the Uttar Pradesh Minor Irrigation Department, was appointed to a regular-scale post on an "ad hoc" basis in 1985 after a proper selection process, and his appointment was formally regularized in 1989 under special rules. When a seniority list was published, the department counted his service only from 1989, denying him credit for the 1985-89 period, even though other similarly placed colleagues had received such credit. A single judge of the Allahabad High Court ruled in his favour, but a later three-judge bench of the same High Court took the opposite view in a related case, holding ad hoc service never counts for seniority. Both the State and Tripathi appealed to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that the general rule, that purely ad hoc, stop-gap service does not count toward seniority, did not apply here, because Tripathi's 1985 appointment was made after a genuine selection process and was treated by the applicable Rules as eligible for regularization and backdated seniority, unlike appointments made outside the rules as a mere temporary fix. Relying on its own precedents (Direct Recruit Class II Engineering Officers' Association and State of West Bengal v. Aghore Nath Dey), the Court distinguished a "procedurally deficient but otherwise regular" appointment from a true stop-gap one, and noted the department itself had given the same benefit to other similarly placed employees. It allowed Tripathi's appeal, dismissed the department's appeal, and directed the State to redetermine seniority within six months counting his service from 12 June 1985, while clarifying this would not disturb anyone's current post and would only give notional (not disruptive) benefit for most purposes.
Lesson Learnt
An "ad hoc" label on a government appointment does not automatically disqualify an employee from seniority credit for that period: what matters is whether the appointment followed a genuine selection process and was later regularized under the rules, as opposed to being a true temporary stop-gap arrangement made outside the rules.