A senior government employee is entitled to claim notional promotion from the date their junior was promoted if they were eligible at that time, and such consideration cannot be denied on the basis that the junior's previous promotion was either erroneous or based on prior court orders.

ORDER

Per: - Ram Mohan Johri, Administrative Member

1. The SWP/WPC/ 563/2011,206/2011 was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and was registered as T.A No.916,899/2020 by the Registry of this Tribunal.

Hearing through video conferencing

2. The present matter was filed before the Hon’ble High Court seeking following relief: -

1. TA 916/2020

IN THE PREMISES:

It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to;

(a) allow the present writ petition;

(b) quash Order No. 3291 of 2010 dated 12.10.2010 passed by respondent No. 3 in so far as it pertains to the petitioner;

(c) command and direct the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner and accordingly promote the petitioner to the post of Inspector (Tele Communication) 18.10.2006 i.e. from the date the respondent No. 6, despite being junior to the petitioner, was promoted as Inspector (Tele communication);

(d) Any other writ, order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and just in the facts and circumstances of the case may also be issued in favour of the petitioner and against the respondents.

2. TA 899/2020

IN THE PREMISES:

It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to;

(a) allow the present writ petition;

(b) quash Order No. 3291 of 2010 dated 12.10.2010 passed by respondent No. 2 in so far as it pertains to the petitioner;

(c) command and direct the respondents to provide retrospective effect to the petitioner as Sub-Inspector (Tele Communication) with effect from 28.09.1989 and Inspector (Tele Communication) with effect from 31.12.2003 i.e. from the date from which the respondents No. 4 and 5 were provided despite being Juniors to petitioner were promoted as Sub-Inspector (Tele Communication) and Inspector (Tele Communication) respectively and consequently to pay the arrears off salary to the petitioner as Sub-Inspector (Tele Communication) w.e.f. 28.09.1989 upto 31.12.2003 and also to pay arrears of salary as Inspector (Tele Communication) w.e.f. 31.12.2003 upto 12.10.2006;

(d) command and direct the respondents to fix the seniority of petitioner as Inspector (Tele Communication) over and above respondents No. 4 and 5;

(e) Any other writ, order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and just in the facts and circumstances of the case may also be issued in favour of the petitioner and against the respondents.

3. The facts of the case as pleaded by the petitioners in their pleadings are as follows: -

a) The present matters arise out of three writ petitions originally filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir at Jammu which, upon creation of the Central Administrative Tribunal, came to be transferred and registered as T.A. No. 916/2020, T.A. No. 899/2020. Since all the two matters arise out of identical facts and involve a common question relating to seniority and promotion in the Police Telecommunication cadre, they are being considered together. The applicants in the present cases are employees of the Police Telecommunication Wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police who claim that despite being senior to certain private respondents, they were denied promotion to the higher post of Inspector (Telecommunication) while their juniors were granted promotion earlier.

b) The applicant in T.A. No. 916/2020, namely Yash Pal Saini, was initially appointed as Constable in the Wireless Wing of the Police Department on 04.07.1975 and was promoted as Head Constable on 17.05.1977. Thereafter, o