Union of India & Anr. vs. M.L. Kalra
Background
The respondent, a government scientific-technical employee who moved between departments in the 1980s, was promoted in 1992 as Junior Analyst (Technical) but was then reverted to his earlier post in 1998 for want of formal recruitment rules for that post in his department. In an earlier 2001 Tribunal case, the government itself had admitted he had long since completed the three years' service required to be eligible for that promotion, but recruitment rules for his post were only formally framed in 2001, and he was formally regularised in that promotion only from November 2001: over a decade after he first became eligible.
Decision Breakdown
The Tribunal in the case under challenge held that, in the absence of formal rules for his post, promotions had historically been made by applying another department's rules, and that the respondent was entitled to be treated as eligible for promotion from 1987-88, not from his 2001 formal regularisation date, so his later promotions to higher scientific posts should also be reckoned from that earlier date. The High Court agreed, holding that the government's own 2001 admission (that he had long completed the qualifying service) was never challenged and had become final, so it could not be reopened now; the government was directed to reconsider him for further promotions treating him as promoted from 13 October 1992, subject to a fresh review for suitability.
Lesson Learnt
If a government department admits, in an earlier unchallenged tribunal proceeding, that an employee had already met the eligibility conditions for promotion by a certain date, it cannot later argue a different (later) date just because internal service rules for that post were formally framed afterward.