IMPORTANT POINT
Seniority among Assistant Professors must be determined by the date of entry into the cadre, not merely by re-designation, as per the KS&SSR.

JUDGMENT :

Dr. A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

As these O.P.(KAT)’s impugn a common order dated 16.03.2022 of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal in O.A.No.289 of 2018 and connected cases, and involve a common issue regarding the manner of determining the inter se seniority of incumbents in the cadre of Assistant Professor in the Medical Education Service of the State, they are taken up together for consideration and disposed by this common judgment.

The facts in brief:

2. The recruitment and promotion to the various posts in the medical services of the State are not governed by any statutory rules but by executive orders issued by the State Government from time to time. This has been the cause for great consternation among both aspirants to the posts as well as incumbents thereof. Further, the non-framing of any rule/guidelines for the determination of inter se seniority among persons appointed to a post on the same day has only exacerbated the problem and added to the misery of those serving in those posts. It is not surprising therefore that there have been multiple rounds of litigation before the State Administrative Tribunal as well as before this Court without any final resolution of the issue. Through this judgment, we make yet another attempt to resolve the said issue.

3. The teaching posts in the Medical Education Service initially comprised of the following posts viz. (i) Professor/Associate Professor and (ii) Reader/Assistant Professor. The posts in each of these categories constituted separate cadres for the purposes of recruitment. Over the years the hierarchy of posts increased in number and by 2000, the teaching posts in the Department swelled to five viz. (i) Professor (ii) Associate Professor (iii) Assistant Professor (iv) Senior Lecturer and (v) Lecturer. While the posts in categories (i) to (iii) constituted separate cadres for the purposes of recruitment, there was some ambiguity as to whether the posts in categories (iv) and (v) constituted a common cadre or not. An indication that the two posts were not envisaged to be part of a common cadre was found in a Government Order G.O.(P) 145/2000/H&FWD dated 16.06.2000 wherein, in the context of revision of scales of pay and allowances of the teaching staff of Medical Colleges, it was stated as follows:

“Hereafter recruitment will be to the Senior Lecturer post only and the qualification will be PG Degree in the respective discipline. Only in case PG’s are not available recruitment will be made to the post of Lecturers (8000-13500) with MBBS qualification. Recruitment rules will be amended suitably to the above effect. The existing Lecturers with PG will be re-designated as Senior Lecturers and paid Rs.10,000-15000”

It was also made clear in the said G.O. that Lecturers without PG Degree would only be granted a higher scale of pay of Rs.12000-18000 on completion of 10 years of physical teaching experience without any change in designation and that they would not be eligible for any further promotion till they acquired the PG Degree in the respective discipline (emphasis supplied).

4. The consequential amendment in the recruitment rules was effected through G.O.(MS)No.09/2005/H&FWD dated 10.01.2005 whereby separate qualifications were prescribed for recruitment to the posts of Sr.Lecturer and Lecturer, with direct recruitment through the Kerala Public Service Commission being the mode of recruitment for both posts. The minimum qualification for the post of Sr.Lecturer was fixed as PG Degree in the respective discipline whereas the base qualification for the post of Lecturer was fixed as MBBS.

5. The recruitment rules were further amended in 2008 through G.O.(MS)No.100/2008/H&FWD dated 07.04.2008 where the posts in the teaching cadre were categorised as (i) Professor (ii) Associate Professor (iii) Assistant Professor (iv) Sr. Lecturer and (v) Lecturer. The mode of appointment to the posts in categories (i) to (iii) was by promotion from the immediate lower category of posts a