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Rajasthan High Court (Full Bench)
Honble RAJESH BALIA, N.P. GUPTA & H.R. PANWAR, JJ.
Pushpa Kochar & Others (Smt.) - Appellant
Versus
The Raj. High Court & Others. - Respondents
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 374 of 2000
Decided On : July 17, 2001
HELD : Rule 22 of the Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules governs the principle for settling seniority at all levels of the posts within the Service; that the seniority of the Officers posted as Munsif (now named as Civil Judge (Junior Division); Civil Judge (now named as Civil Judge (Senior Division); and Civil Judge cum Chief Judicial Magistrate (Now named as Civil Judge (Senior Division) cum Chief Judicial Magistrate is to be determined separately and the Officers posted to higher posts in service shall rank enblock senior to the persons holding lower posts in the service. Inter se seniority on each posts shall be with effect from the date of such appointment/promotion on the post by regular method of appointment to post whether by direct recruitment or by promotion subject to exception that where a person has been promoted form the post of Munsif to the post of Civil Judge, as a result of accelerated promotion by operation of roster point earlier than the person senior to him as Munsif does not give him accelerated seniority and where such senior candidates from general class joins him on the post of Civil Judge (S.D.) before he is further promoted, the inter se seniority between such promoted officers from general class and accelerated promotee on the roster point for reserved posts shall be determined on the basis of their inter se seniority on the lower pot of Munsif. This principle would govern in setting out the seniority of the Members of the Service manning different posts within the Service which is in consonance with Rule 22 of the Rules in the light o the provisions of Art.14 and 16(1) of the Constitution of India. (Para 163)
(i) Appointment within Service Rules from lower post to higher post by procedure/mode prescribed under Rules of 1955 by promotion amounts to advancement to higher rank from lower rank carrying with it preferment in honour, dignity, rank or grade. On promotion a person cannot be treated equal with a person not so promoted.
(ii) that Rule 22 of the Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules governs the principle for settling seniority at all levels of the posts within the Service;
(iii) that the seniority of the Officers posted as Munsif (now named as Civil Judge (Junior Division); Civil Judge (now named as Civil Judge (Senior Division) and Civil Judge cum Chief Judicial Magistrate (now named as Civil Judge (Senior Division) cum Chief Judicial Magistrate is to be determined separately;
(iv) that the Officers appointed to higher posts by promotion shall rank enblock senior to the persons on lower ladder of the posts and not promoted;
(v) that inter se seniority on each posts shall be with effect from the date of such appointment on the post;
(vi) that subsidiary to this, persons appointed as post in service on same date shall rank according to their ranking in merit list if it is a case of appointment by direct recruitment and if such appointment is by promotion from lower post to higher post, seniority of promotees of even date shall accord with their ranking in seniority on the lower post from which they have been promoted;
(vii) that condition No. (iv) is subject to exception that where a person has been promoted from the post of Munsif to the post of Civil Judge, as a result of accelerated promotion by operation of roster point earlier than the person senior to him as Munsif and where such senior candidates from general class joins him on the post of Civil Judge before he is further promoted, the inter se seniority between such promoted officers from general class and accelerated promotee on the reserve roster point shall be determined on the basis of their inter se seniority on the lower post of Munsif. Likewise on further promotion in the service, their inter se seniority shall be governed on the same principle; and
(viii) that when the case of promotion to RHJS from RJS shall be considered, the Civil Judges (S.D.) are to be considered in the first instance for promotion to RHJS and then civil Judges (J.D.) shall be considered, in order of their respective seniority. (Para 113)
(2). The present writ petition has come up for hearing before us on a reference having been made by a Division Bench of this Court vide its order dated 9.1.2001.
(3). In the first instance, two provisional seniority lists were published on 13.7.98 inviting objections thereto. One provisional seniority list (Annex.1) related to Officers holding posts of Civil Judges (Senior Division) cum Additional Chief Judicial Magistrates and another provisional seniority list (Annex.2) pertained to the Civil Judges (Junior Division) cum Judicial Magistrates. The provisional seniority list (Annex.1) has been prepared on the basis of the respective date of promotion of the Officers from the post of Munsifs, now designated as Civil Judges (Junior Division) to the posts of Civil Judges now designated as Civil Judges (Senior Division) whereas the provisional seniority list (Annex.2) has been prepared on the basis of the date of initial appointment as Munsifs now named as Civil Judges (Junior Division) cum Judicial Magistrates and on the basis of the date of confirmation making their appointment as substantive.
(4). The Officers of Rajasthan Judicial Service holding the posts of Civil Judges (Senior Division) on the basis of the aforesaid two seniority lists were to be considered enblock senior to the persons included in the seniority list of the Civil Judges (Junior Division) and their inter se seniority was fixed on the basis of continuous officiation on the post since the date of appointment by promotion.
(5). On certain objections being raised by different Officers of Rajasthan Judicial service different grounds, only a consolidated seniority list (Annex.4) dated 28.4.1999 was published showing seniority lists of all the incumbents holding the pests encadred in the Rajasthan Judicial Service in hierarchy, on the basis of the date of their recruitment to the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) and on the basis of the date of their confirmation making their appointment substantive irrespective f the fact that after appointment on the posts of Civil Judges (Junior Division), the Officers have been promoted to the next higher post f Civil Judges (Senior Division) on different dates as per the provisions of Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules, 1995 for the time being in force.
(6). The relative position of date of appointment as Munsif and promotions in next higher post of the petitioners respondents in the present case has been shown by the petitioners in the Schedule appended to the writ petition. In has also been shown in the Schedule Annex.R1/1 filed alongwith the reply to the writ petition on behalf of respondent No. 1. The only variation is that subsequent to the issue of the final seniority list, date of promotion of respondent No. 9 Shri A.K. Khandelwal has been corrected from 30.5.98 to 7.7.97. The respective position in seniority has been shown in Annex. 4. The following table reveals consolidating the datails of appointment as Munsif, as Civil Judge cum CJM and respective place in seniority arranged as per Annex.4:
PARTICULARS OF PETITIONERS
S.No. Name Petitioner No. Date of Appointment as Munsiff Date of Promotion as ACJM Date of grant of selec- tion grade S.No. at which seniority assi- gned as per Anx.4
1. Smt. Puspa Kochar 1 19.7.85 26.5.93 4.4.98 110
2. Raj Kamal Gaur 2 19.7.85 26.5.93 4.4.98 111
3. Atulkumar Chatterji 3 19.7.85 26.5.93 4.4.98 114
4. Manoj Kumar Vyas 4 19.7.85 24.5.94 4.4.98 144
5. Ashok Kumar Vyas 5 30.3.88 9.7.96 4.4.98 175
6. Uma Shanker Vyas 6 16.4.90 18.11.97 4.4.98 212
PARTICULARS OF RESPONDENTS
S.No. Name Respondents No. Petitioner Appointment as Munsiff Date of Promotion as ACJM Date of grant of selection grade Date of
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