Promotions may be granted retrospectively with salary when administrative delays occur due to no fault of the employee, avoiding disparate treatment based on administrative negligence.

JUDGMENT :

Namit Kumar, J.

1. The petitioner has filed the present writ petition claiming the following reliefs: -

"(i) Civil Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 22.10.2021 (Annexure P-17) whereby respondent No.2 while rejecting the claim of the petitioner for promotion to the post of Senior Assistant has not only mislead the petitioner but also this Hon'ble Court by stating that the post of Senior Assistant can be filled up only from Clerks and is governed by the general rules namely Punjab Civil Services (General & Common Conditions of Service) Rule 2015 which hold the field only if there are no departmental rules whereas the Trust Employees are governed by their own Statutory Recruitment Rules namely, Punjab Trust Services (Recruitment and Conditions) Rules, 2015 notified on 30th September, 2015 (Annexure P-8).

(ii) To issue writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the petitioner for promotion to the post of Senior Assistant w.e.f. the date when her juniors were promoted as such vide orders dated 09.10.2018 (Annexure P-10) and even another counterpart Ms. Harpreet who has been promoted as Senior Assistant vide orders dated 14.10.2020 (Annexure P-12) pursuant to the directions issued by this Court and the petitioner being fully eligible in terms of the Punjab Trust Services (Recruitment and Conditions) Rules, 2015 (Annexure P-8).

(iii) To further direct the respondents to retrospectively promote the petitioner as Senior Assistant w.e.f. 09.10.2018 all consequential benefits including seniority, pay fixation, increments etc."

2. The brief facts as have been pleaded in the petition are that the petitioner was appointed as Steno-typist on 19.08.1987 in the Improvement Trust Cadre and for the last more than 30 years, she is working on the same post, without any promotion, despite availability of promotional post of Senior Assistant. With a view to merge various clerical posts carrying identical pay scales, respondent No.l vide notification dated 10.03.1999, merged all employees serving in the Improvement Trust such as Junior Assistant, Senior Assistant, Clerk, Clerk-cum-typist, Bill Distributer, Steno-typist and Junior Scale Stenographer in common cadre known as "Punjab Service of Trust Clerks" and in pursuance thereto, final joint seniority list was issued vide letter dated 30.07.2013 and in the said seniority list name of the petitioner was shown at serial No.54. Thereafter, a letter dated 29.01.2016 was issued by respondent No.2, whereby it was stated that matter regarding designating Clerks/Senior Clerks/Steno-typists as Junior Assistants is under consideration and information was sought regarding any vigilance case or inquiry pending against employees mentioned from serial No.29 to 87 in the seniority list dated 30.07.2013. Consequently, vide letter dated 04.02.2016, Executive Officer, Improvement Trust, Ropar, informed respondent No.2 that there is no vigilance complaint or vigilance inquiry pending against the petitioner. Thereafter, vide order dated 03.01.2017, respondent No.2 designated various Clerks/Senior Clerks/Steno-typists/Junior Scale Stenographers as Junior Assistants, including the petitioner whose name has been mentioned at serial No. 14 and consequently, petitioner was designated as Junior Assistant w.e.f. 01.05.2014, vide order dated 03.01.2017. However, the said order dated 03.01.2017 was withdrawn by respondent No.2 vide order dated 04.09.2018, and reverted petitioner to her original cadre of Steno-typist. Thereafter, vide order dated 09.10.2018, respondent No.2 promoted Clerks/Junior Assistants as Senior Assistants who were junior to the petitioner having be