Claims regarding seniority must be raised promptly; failure to do so can lead to dismissal based on delay and laches.

JUDGMENT :

ARINDAM LODH, J.

By way of filing the instant writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the seniority position of the respondent no.4 (private respondent).

2. The case of the petitioner is that he entered into service as Grade-II officer under the Tripura Forest Service in accordance with Tripura Forest Service Rules , 1988 (for short, the Rules of 1988). Thereafter, he along with the private respondent and others were sent to training in State Forest Service Course [Diploma course in Forest]. After completion of probation/training period, his service was confirmed as TFS Grade-II officer under the State-respondents. While he was continuing in service, the State- respondents had published tentative seniority list. Thereafter, on the basis of tentative seniority list, after consideration of objections and representations, the final seniority list was published in the year 25.11.2005. Following the seniority list was published in the year 2005, the petitioner was promoted to the post TFS Grade-I on 10.01.2013. On the basis of the seniority list prepared in the year 2005, the State-respondents published another final seniority list in the year 2013 and later on, in the year 2017.

2.1 Keeping in line with the final seniority list prepared in the year 2017, the petitioner was inducted to the Indian Forest Service cadre (for short, IFS cadre) in the year 2017 itself. Having joined to the IFS cadre, the petitioner started inquiry about the marks obtained by the private respondent in the Diploma Course training examination to which he found that he secured higher marks than that of the private respondent no.4. But, the respondent no.4 was shown senior to the petitioner in the final seniority list published in the year 2005. Having found this, the petitioner submitted representation to the State-respondents on 21.07.2019 [Annexure-4 to the writ petition] stating inter alia that his seniority was wrongly fixed in the year 2005 since Rule 29 of the Rules of 1988 prescribes that persons recruited on the result of qualifying written examination in any year shall be ranked inter se in the order of merit in which they are placed according to merit in the result of the final examination of the State Forest Service Course(Diploma Course in Forestry), those recruited on the basis of an earlier examination being ranked senior to those recruited on the basis of the later final examination of the State Forest Service Course (Diploma Course in Forestry). The said representation was responded by the State- respondents vide reply dated 2^nd January, 2020 [Annexure-5 to the writ petition] where the contentions and claim of the petitioner was rejected.

3. Challenging the rejection of the representation, the petitioner approached the learned Central Administrative Tribunal [for short, ‘CAT’], Gauhati Bench. The Original Application was registered as OA No.041/0054/2021. The said application was disposed of by learned CAT vide order dated 15.02.2024 where the claim of the petitioner was rejected having observed thus:

“4. We have heard the parties and perused the records as well as the judgment placed by the learned counsel for the applicant. From the perusal of the prayer made by the applicant at para 8 of the relief in the instant O.A., it is noted that the applicant has asked for quashing of the Order dated 02.01.2020(Annexure-A/1) passed by the respondent no.2 i.e., Government of Tripura by rejecting the request of the applicant for re-fixation of the seniority while he was in service i.e. under the Tripura Forest Service till 2015. Further, from the perusal of the instant O.A., it is observed that the applicant has no grievance against the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change. We have also perused the Order passed by the Hon’ble High Court of Tripura in WP(C) CAT 2 of 2012. From the perusal of the said Order, it is noted that in the said writ petition, the petitioner was aggrieved with the appointment of two other persons to the IF