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The State of Uttarakhand v. Jagdish Chandra Kandpal and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 759Decided 29 Jul 2026
Civil Appeal No. 3070 of 2024 (with connected Civil Appeal Nos. 3071, 3072 and 4452 of 2024)
Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha · Justice Alok Aradhe

Background

A group of Tehsildars in Uttarakhand were promoted on an ad hoc/stop-gap basis to the post of Deputy Collector in 2007 due to a shortage of officers, pending regular recruitment. Years later, in 2010, the Public Service Commission promoted a different, overlapping set of Tehsildars to the same post, leaving out these original promotees, who then went to court and eventually secured a direction making their promotion effective only from 2012 rather than 2007. Aggrieved that their ad hoc service between 2007 and 2012 was not being counted for seniority, the promotees challenged this before the Uttarakhand High Court, which ruled substantially in their favour, prompting the State and the direct recruits (who were separately appointed to the same cadre) to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the service rules (Rule 24(4) of the Uttaranchal Civil Services Rules and the 2003 Regulations) and the documentary record, including internal government communications showing 15 vacant Deputy Collector posts reserved for the promotee quota in 2007-08, and concluded that the promotees had indeed been appointed within their own promotee quota on an ad hoc basis, not as an irregular stop-gap outside the quota. It held that the promotees were entitled to count this ad hoc service and be treated as regularly promoted with effect from 01.10.2007, rejecting the direct recruits' argument that a prior precedent (Vinod Giri Goswami) barred this relief, since that precedent actually supports counting ad hoc service where a promotee has continuously worked within the promotee quota until regular promotion: exactly the situation here. The Court directed the State Government to issue a revised seniority list reflecting this within three months, while clarifying the ruling would not affect other officers promoted in later years who were not parties to this case.

Lesson Learnt

Under service rules that allow "ad hoc" promotion time to count toward seniority, what matters is whether the employee continuously worked within their designated quota until regularisation, not merely the informal or temporary label attached to the appointment at the time.

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

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