Promotions must strictly adhere to qualification criteria as per relevant regulations to maintain integrity in civil service seniority and prevent premature reversions.

ORDER :

R. VIJAYAKUMAR, J.

These four writ petitions have been filed by Deputy Block Development Officers working in Rural Development Department, Tirunelveli District challenging the revision of seniority and order of reversion.

(A).Facts leading to the filing of these writ petitions are as follows:

2.All the four writ petitioners were appointed as Junior Assistants on temporary basis through Employment Exchange in the year 2003 when there was a strike by the Government employees. They were regularised in the year 2009 after passing a special examination conducted by TNPSC. Out of the four writ petitioners, two of them namely N.Sankaran and M.Kathiravan, have passed the departmental examinations in May 2012 and also passed Bhavanisagar Training. Their probation was declared on 24.05.2012 and 28.05.2012 respectively. Their names were included in the panel for promotion to the post of Assistant for the year 2012 and they were granted temporary promotion on 03.12.2012. Their names were included for promotion to the post of Deputy Block Development Officer for the year 2017 and they were promoted as Deputy Block Development Officers on 27.03.2018.

3.As far as the other two writ petitioners namely Kasali and Subramanian are concerned, they were regularised in the year 2009 by way of a special examinations conducted by TNPSC. Both of them cleared departmental examination in December 2011. The said Kasali passed Bhavanisagar examination on 25.05.2012 and the said Subramanian has cleared Bhavanisagar training on 04.10.2012. Their probation was declared in 23.12.2011. Their names were included in the panel for promotion in the year 2012 to the post of Assistant. Kasali is temporarily promoted as Assistant on 03.12.2012 and Subramanian was promoted on 01.02.2014. Their names were included in the panel for the year 2017 for promotion to the post of Deputy Block Development Officer. Based upon the panel, Kasali was promoted as Deputy Block Development Officer on 27.03.2018 and Subramanian was promoted as Deputy Block Development Officer on 03.11.2017.

4.TNPSC had conducted a direct recruitment to the post of Assistant and the private respondents namely respondents 5 and 6 were appointed as Assistants on 03.12.2012. They had filed WP(MD).No.11678 of 2017 before this Court challenging seniority granted to the promotee Assistants ahead of the directly recruited Assistant. This writ petition was dismissed by the learned Single Judge on 16.06.2014 and they preferred WA(MD).No.885 of 2018. The writ appeal was dismissed on 25.10.2018 with an observation that the temporary promotion granted in favour of promotees has been regularised by the Government with effect from the initial date of temporary promotion and having not challenged the said regularization, the inter se seniority cannot be refixed.

5.Thereafter, they approached the Director of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department questioning the panel for promotion for the post of Assistant to Deputy Block Development Officer for the year 2016, 2017 and 2018. The directly recruited assistants had attacked the grant of temporary promotion in favour of the writ petitioners herein along with others on the ground that all four of them were not qualified to be included in the panel for temporary promotion to the post of Assistant as on the crucial date namely 15.03.2012. According to them, all the four writ petitioners were not qualified on the said crucial date and therefore, their names should have been included only in 2013 panel. As a consequence, when the seniority is revised in the cadre of Assistant and their names could not find place in the panel f