No Right To Retrospective Promotion Merely Due To Delayed Assessment By Department Committee: Uttarakhand High Court
The Uttarakhand High Court has held that an employee cannot claim retrospective promotion merely because the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) was constituted at a later point in time. The Court observed that in the absence of any provision or guideline providing for promotion from a deemed date, no employee can claim retrospective promotion.
Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari was hearing a writ petition filed by Nursing Officers of AIIMS, Rishikesh, who were appointed during 2017-18 and were promoted as Senior Nursing Officers by an order dated 17 August 2022. The petitioners claimed that, having completed three years of service in 2021, they were entitled to promotion from that year and sought consequential benefits. Their representation was rejected by the Administrative Officer, AIIMS, Rishikesh, on 7 July 2023, following which they approached the High Court.
The petitioners relied upon an Office Memorandum dated 8 September 1998, which provides that DPCs should be convened at regular intervals to prepare panels for filling vacancies arising during the course of a year.
The Court observed that while the Office Memorandum requires DPCs to be convened periodically, it does not provide that an employee would be entitled to promotion from a deemed date or in a time-bound manner. The Court further observed that promotions are vacancy-based and dependent upon recommendations of the DPC. In the absence of an assessment by the DPC, no employee can be promoted.
“… it is provided that DPCs should be convened at regular intervals (by laying down a time schedule for this purpose) to draw panels which could be utilised for making promotions against the vacancies occurring during the course of a year. However, the said Office Memorandum do not provide anywhere that any employee would be entitled to promotion from a deemed date or in a time-bound manner,” the Court observed.
The Court noted that the petitioners themselves admitted that the DPC considering their cases was constituted in 2022 and that they were promoted on the recommendation of that DPC. It therefore held that their claim for promotion with effect from 2021 could not be sustained merely because they had completed the qualifying period by then.
Holding that the rejection order dated 7 July 2023 suffered from no infirmity, the Court dismissed the writ petition. The Court, however, expressed hope that the instructions contained in the Office Memorandum dated 8 September 1998 would be kept in mind by the competent authorities and that DPCs would be constituted in a time-bound manner whenever vacancies arise.
Case Title: Ravin Kumar Bishnoi v. Union of India [WPSS No. 1471 of 2023]