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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
NAVIN CHAWLA, RENU BHATNAGAR
Ombeer Singh Parmar – Appellant
Versus
Union Of India – Respondent
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. review of prior judgment details. (Para 1) |
| 2. arguments concerning seniority and procedural adherence. (Para 2 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 9) |
| 3. court's analysis on seniority determination. (Para 3 , 6 , 12) |
| 4. precedent and binding effects of previous judgments. (Para 10 , 11 , 13) |
| 5. outcome of the review petition. (Para 16) |
JUDGMENT :
NAVIN CHAWLA, J.
REVIEW PET. 307/2025 & CM APPL. 29992/2025 in W.P.(C) 6694/2024
1. This review petition has been filed, seeking review of the judgment dated 25.03.2025 passed by this Court in the above Writ Petition, whereby the same was allowed with the following directions:
“12. In the present case, the impugned seniority list, has been issued by the respondents on 19.04.2023. The same therefore, has to be governed by the decision of the Supreme Court in K.Meghachandra Singh (supra).
13. Applying the above principle, retrospective seniority even before the personnel is born in the Cadre, cannot be granted. The impugned seniority list insofar as it determined seniority in violation of the said principal, is liable to be quashed.
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16. However, keeping in view that the reference is pending before the Larger Bench, we direct that the seniority lis
Determination of seniority must comply with Supreme Court rulings, emphasizing the significance of actual appointment dates over vacancy years, as retrospective seniority is not permissible.
Seniority for government employees must be determined from the date of appointment, not the initiation of recruitment, as upheld in relevant Supreme Court decisions.
Seniority cannot be granted to employees not borne in the cadre; it must reflect the actual date of joining. A fresh seniority list should be prepared following Supreme Court rulings.
Service Laws – Seniority List – OMs made it clear that seniority of direct recruits had to be fixed from the date of appointment and not from date of initiation of recruitment process.
Seniority in government service is determined by the date of appointment, not just the year joined in the cadre, protecting prior established seniority rights.
Seniority lists finalized under pre-overruling law (initiation of recruitment process and quota rotation) protected prospectively; ad hoc service does not confer seniority; repeated provisional lists....
Seniority assigned to any employee could not be changed after a lapse of 7 years, though even on merit it was found that seniority of the petitioner therein had correctly been fixed.
Seniority in public service must be determined by the date of first appointment, not by roster points, as per statutory rules.
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