Vested rights of promoted employees cannot be impaired by subsequent administrative actions, preserving seniority acquired under prior rules.

ORDER :

S.G. PANDIT, J.

In the above batch of Writ Petitions, the grievance of the parties is common and it is the dispute between the Absorbed Assistant Engineers, Hereinafter referred to as ‘Absorbed AEs’ and Direct Recruit Assistant Engineers, Hereinafter referred to as ‘DR-AEs’ in the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Hereinafter referred to as ‘RDPR Department’. Hence, with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, all the above Writ Petitions are taken up together, heard and disposed of by this common order.

2. In Writ Petition No.26182/2023, Absorbed AEs are before this court questioning the order dated 08.08.2023 in Application Nos. 3505-3509 of 2022 C/w Application Nos. 2426-2430 of 2022, wherein, their prayer to quash the rankings assigned to private respondents(DR-AEs) in the impugned seniority list dated 02.07.2022(Annexure-A4) of the cadre of Assistant Executive Engineers, Hereinafter referred to as ‘AEEs’ and in the seniority list dated 20.09.2021(Annexure-A10) of the cadre of Assistant Engineer, Hereinafter referred to as ‘AEs’ and to include their name over and above the private respondents with all consequential benefits was refused by the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal, For short ‘Tribunal’

3. In Writ Petition No.12507/2024, the Absorbed AEs are before this court aggrieved by the Order dated 18.04.2024 passed by the Tribunal in Application Nos. 4568- 4582/2023 rejecting their prayer to set aside the notification dated 20.09.2021(Annexure A23), i.e. seniority list in the cadre of AEs and also to set aside notification dated 02.07.2022 (Annexure-A28), i.e. seniority list in the cadre of AEEs with a direction to publish the revised seniority list and to assign appropriate rankings with all consequential benefits.

4. In Writ Petition No.19017/2024, the Absorbed AEs are before this Court aggrieved by order dated 04.07.2024 passed by the Tribunal in Application Nos. 2089 to 2094/2024 rejecting their prayer to set aside the notification dated 20.9.2021(Annexure A15), i.e. seniority list in the cadre of AEs and also to set aside notification dated 02.07.2022,i.e. seniority list in the cadre of AEEs with a direction to publish the revised seniority list and to assign appropriate rankings with all consequential benefits.

5. In Writ Petition No. 17562/2025, the DR-AEs are before this Court aggrieved by an Interim Order dated 09.06.2025 in Application Nos. 2459 to 2465/ 2025 wherein their prayer to stay impugned communication dated 03.06.2025(Annexure A13) directing to treat Absorbed AEs as absorption in public interest and to treat the 2016 DR-AEs as juniors under notification dated 03.06.2025 and consequently, cancelling the seniority list of AEs and AEEs published on 20.09.2021 and 02.07.2022, respectively, is refused.

6. The brief facts of the case are that the Absorbed AEs were initially appointed as AEs in the year 2004 to the combined department of Public Works, Irrigation and Rural Development. Whereas, the DR-AEs were directly recruited and appointed as AEs in RDPR Department under Karnataka Panchayath Raj Engineering Services (Cadre and Recruitment) Rules, 2008 (For Short ‘2008 Rules’) on 08.01.2016.

7. On 20.9.2019, the DR-AEs were placed in independent charge under Rule 32 of KCSRs as AEEs in the RDPR Department. The absorbed AEs challenged the said order dated 20.09.2019 placing DR-AEs in independent charge as AEEs in the RDPR Department before the Tribunal in Application Nos. 7493-7502 of 2019. The Tribunal by order dated 04