IMPORTANT POINT
Seniority - Incumbents from different streams with different quotas cannot challenge grant of seniority from back date to each other.

JUDGMENT :

(Rajesh Bindal, J.)

1. Challenge in the present appeal is to the order in a Writ Appeal¹[Writ Appeal No. 1563 of 2010, decided on 27.06.2011], passed by the Division Bench of the High Court²[High Court of Kerala], by which the judgment of the learned Single Judge passed in W.P. No. 36424 of 2005, was set aside.

2. Challenge in the W.P. filed by the appellant was to the order dated 14.03.2005, passed by the Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Administration, Thiruvananthapuram vide which the private-respondents No. 1 to 4, 7 and 8 were given seniority from back date.

3. Learned senior counsel for the appellant submitted that the appellant was appointed as Overseer Grade-III in the Irrigation Department vide G.O. (Rt.) No. 276/89/Co-op dated 16.06.1989, on compassionate basis. As the appellant was an Engineering Graduate, he represented to the Government for appointment as Assistant Engineer (Mechanical). His representation was rejected. O.P. No. 7647 of 1991 was filed praying for setting aside of the order of rejection of his representation with a further prayer that he should be appointed as Assistant Engineer with retrospective effect, from the date he was appointed as Overseer Grade-III. Vide judgment dated 02.07.1992, the High Court directed the respondents therein to appoint the appellant as Assistant Engineer instead of Overseer Grade-III from the date he is appointed on that post. The aforesaid judgment of the learned Single Judge of the High Court was challenged by the State by filing an intra-court appeal³[Writ Appeal No. 1013 of 1992]. The same was disposed of on 03.09.1994, directing the Government to appoint the appellant as Assistant Engineer against the existing vacancy or on the next arising vacancy. He further directed that the appellant was to be given seniority in the cadre of Assistant Engineer from the date of his appointment as such. In compliance to the aforesaid judgment of the High Court, the appellant was appointed as Assistant Engineer (Mechanical) in the Irrigation Department vide G.O. (M.S.) No. 31/95/Co-op dated 01.03.1995.

4. The private-respondents who joined service as Overseer Grade-I and were holding the qualification of Diploma were promoted as Assistant Engineer (Mechanical) with effect from 15.03.1995 and 18.03.1995. The next higher promotion from the post of Assistant Engineer is that of Assistant Executive Engineer, which is stated to be filled up as per the 2010 Rules.⁴[The Kerala Irrigation Engineering Service Special Rules, 2010].

5. It was further argued that the Chief Engineer⁵[Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Administration, Thiruvananthapuram], vide order dated 26.04.1996, published the first provisional seniority list of Assistant Engineers (Mechanical) as on 01.03.1996. It was directed to be circulated to all concerned and they were given liberty to file objections if any, within 15 days. In the seniority list, the name of appellant finds mention at Sr. No. 35 whereas that of the private-respondent Nos. 4 to 8 were at Sr. No. 37 to 41, respectively. The date of joining of the appellant as Assistant Engineer (Mechanical) has been shown as 01.03.1995 whereas that of private-respondents Nos. 4 to 8 was shown as 18.03.1995, 15.03.1995, 15.03.1995, 15.03.1995 and 15.03.1995, respectively. The respondent No. 3 was not shown in the seniority list. The private respondents did not file any objection to the aforesaid tentative seniority list. Vide order dated 18.10.1997, the respondent No. 2 circulated another provisional seniority list of the Assistant Engineers (Mechanical) as on 01.09.1997. After considering the objections raised by the affected persons, final seniority list of Assistant Engineers (Mechanical) was circulated by the respondent No. 3 vide order dated 22.11.2001 for the period from 01.04.1990 to 31.12.1998. It was clearly mentioned in the communication that the same superseded all previous seniority lists published for the period in this regard. The aforesaid seniority list