IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that seniority must be based on factual records and that natural justice requires all affected parties to be included in promotion processes.

JUDGMENT :

(G. Narendar, J.) :

1. Heard the learned counsel for the appellants and the respondents.

2. The first Writ Appeal No.346 of 2024 is directed against the order of the learned Single Judge rendered while disposing of Writ Petition No.6544 of 2024, dated 15.03.2024.

3. The appellants all claim to be Motor Vehicle Inspectors and it is their case that they are the senior most in the cadre of Motor Vehicle Inspector and eligible for being promoted to the next post of Regional Transport Officer. That the respondents have initiated the Writ Petition without arraying them as party-respondents and they being the senior most amongst the existing list of Motor Vehicle Inspectors. The omission on the part of the private respondents i.e. Respondent Nos. 3 to 21 was deliberate and with the intention of securing an order from this Court adverse to their interest. Various grounds have been urged by Sri. M. Vijay Kumar, learned senior counsel, appearing on behalf of the private respondents.

4. The issue of seniority depends more on facts than on any complicated legal issue. The basic Rule relating to seniority is that seniority is relatable to the date on which the employee was borne on the rolls of the Department. In our considered opinion there cannot be any two opinions regarding the same and it is also no more res-integra and is the accepted principle as settled by the Honourable Apex Court. There is no dispute with regard to the fact that the appellants, who have sought leave to challenge the order of the learned Single Judge, and the petitioners therein, hail from the same feeder service i.e., the Motor Vehicle Inspectors and by way of Direct Recruitment. The quota reserved in respect of each of the feeder categories is well marked and it is also a settled law that the vacancy in one quota cannot be occupied by candidates from the other feeder category. That despite this being the settled position, we find the parties resorting to multiple rounds of litigation leading to a situation where the Department is rendered to a pendulum in their quest to comply with the directions being issued by the Court. This situation has been brought about because of the failure to observe the elementary and fundamental principles of natural justice. The parties despite being aware of the fact that the order by this Court favoring their contentions, will in all likelihood have adverse impact on the service conditions of their peers but yet the parties have singularly failed in complying with the principles of natural justice by bringing on record such affected parties. It is not that there are hundreds and thousands of employees that it is impossible for the petitioners to identify such of those who would be aggrieved. Yet, there is no conscious attempt to have all the necessary parties onboard.

5. An illustrative case is the present Writ Appeal where the applicants/appellants are crying hoarse before this Court with regard to the non compliance with the principles of natural justice. It is pertinent to note that the Writ Petitions have been moved before this Court with a direction not to constitute a D.P.C., without finalizing the seniority list. We deem it pertinent to observe as above in view of the age of the private respondents before this Court and the small numbers involved in the musical chair called seniority.

6. We have heard Sri Manish Kumar Sinha, Transport Commissioner of the State - Respondent No.2, who is the competent authority to carry out the exercise and on a query, the Transport Commissioner, submits that the total number of candidates in the ‘Motor Vehicle Inspector category’ is a mere ‘174’ and the number of candidates in the ‘Administrative Officer’ category is a mere ‘77’. Thus, despite the small numbers and despite there being no dispute with regard to the date of entry into the service with regard to each of the candidates, we are unable to comprehend the object behind the repeated filing of Writ Petitions and that too with