IMPORTANT POINT
Seniority of Police Constables must be determined by the date of first effective advice by the Public Service Commission, overriding integration orders, and relinquishment of rights must be in writing to affect seniority.

JUDGMENT :

P.Krishna Kumar, J.

The questions raised in these cases relate to the seniority of Police Constables who joined Armed Reserve or Local Police from the Armed Police Battalion. As the subject matter in these cases is connected, it has been decided to dispose of them together.

2. We heard Sri.Ranjith Thampan, the learned Senior Counsel, as instructed by Sri.V.M.Krishnakumar, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in O.P.(KAT)No.68/2024, Sri.Sunilkumar Kuriakose, the learned Senior Government Pleader and also Sri.T.G.Sunil, the learned counsel appearing for the respondents in O.P.(KAT)No.362/2022.

O.P.(KAT)No.68/2024

3. The petitioners are Police Constables who joined service in the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) during the period 1993 - 2004. Though they were entitled to get a transfer to their respective Armed Reserve on completion of a few years of service, they did not avail of that option initially. Later, based on the repeated representations made by the petitioners, they were transferred to the respective Armed Reserve as per Annexure A2 dated 11.5.2010, as a mercy chance. Meanwhile, several juniors of the petitioners had joined the respective Armed Reserve.

4. Subsequently, on 10.12.2010, as per Annexure A3, the Government decided to integrate the Armed Reserve with the District Local Police with effect from 01.04.2010 and thereby a common cadre namely ‘Kerala Civil Police’, came into existence.

5. The petitioners are now aggrieved by the seniority list prepared by the Police Department without considering their seniority based on the date of their initial appointment. When they submitted representations, the Department intimated them through Annexure A8 that their seniority in the Kerala Civil Police cadre could be counted only with effect from the date of joining the Armed Reserve. Then the petitioners approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal for fixing their seniority based on the date of appointment, which is in accordance with Rule 3 of the Kerala Police Subordinate Service Rules , 1980 (‘the Special Rules’, for short), as amended by the Kerala Police Subordinate Service (Amendment) Rules, 2017.

6. Rejecting their claim, the Tribunal found that, as per Annexure A3 order dated 10.12.2010, the Government had integrated the Armed Reserve with the District Local Police, thereby constituting the Kerala Civil Police with retrospective effect from 1.4.2010 and thus the transfer of petitioners from Armed Police Battalion to Armed Reserve on 11.05.2010 could only be considered as a transfer from Armed Police Battalion to Kerala Civil Police. Based on this, the Tribunal further concluded that the petitioner would not be governed by the amended provisions in Rule 3 of the Special Rules and thus their seniority has to be fixed by the general rules in the Kerala State & Subordinate Service Rules, 1958 (‘KS & SSR’, for short) i.e., the date of joining in the new cadre.

7. It will be instructive to refer briefly to the historical events that led to the 2017 amendment to the Special Rules and the method of transfer and appointment to the various branches of the Kerala Police Service. The Kerala Police Constabulary originally consisted of three cadres such as (i) Armed Police Battalions (ii) Armed Reserve and (iii) General Executive Branch (Local Police). There were separate recruitment routes for the Police Constables in each of the said cadres and thus persons appointed in one cadre could have migrated to another cadre, but then they would lose their seniority in the parent cadre. Police Constables appointed in the Armed Police Battalion used to get transferred to the Armed Reserve after their mandatory lock-in period by surrendering their seniority, based on the waiting list prepared from among the eligible and willing Police Constables, in accordance with their seniority. To illustrate, when the senior most Police Constable in the Armed Police Battalion joins the Armed Reserve he will be treated as the junior most